Love Can Hurt
Chapter 3 Memories
Samantha looked towards the germen shepherd as it bounded towards her. She laughed as the mighty best jumped on her and licked her face. She pets the dog affectionately on the head but turned when she heard her friend call to her. "Hey Sam, we still going to the movies with Rick and Luke?"
Samantha pushed her dog off of her as she stood up and turned to her friend, a small smile and blush made its way to her face. "Of course we are! I'd never cancel this double date for nothing, Tammy."
Her friend let out a small chuckle. "I think you're just thinking about rubbing lips with Luke." She laughed even harder when Samantha's face turned a deeper shade of red.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want… I got to go take Trixie home before we go, though."
Tammy looked at the dog and pets her head. "Yes, 'cause Sam would never let her baby stay outside." She cooed with a baby voice.
Samantha laughed and started walking towards her house, both Tammy and Trixie soon following behind her. When they reached her house she walked in side and shouted for her parents. "Mom! Dad! I'm about to leave to go to the movies!" She soon heard thuds coming down the stairs. She saw her little sister bound down the stairs in delight, a happy grin on her face.
She giggled out. "So when do we go!?"
Samantha frowned and crouched to make herself level with her small, eight year old sister. "I'm sorry Mya, but you can't come this is going to be a movie for big kids." She said gently. She grimaced as she saw Mya's face fell.
Samantha smiled at her sister and whispered into her ear," Besides, we are going to kiss boys. Are you sure you still want to come?"
Mya made a disgusted face and shook her head but then ran off to her room just as her parents made it down the stairs. Tammy stifled a giggle at Mya's reaction to whatever Samantha had said to her younger sister while Samantha looked up to her parents and smiled. "Hey mom, hey dad we were just about to go to the movies. I was just dropping off Trixie."
"We know, try and stay out of trouble." Her mom spoke with a smile. Her dad, however, didn't seem too pleased. "Just don't do anything besides kissing your boyfriends." Her dad growled.
Tammy chuckled," don't worry Mr. and Mrs. Shepard. I'll keep Sam in line." All three girls laughed as Samantha's father visibly paled. Samantha recovered from the laughter first and started pushing Tammy towards the door and left with an "I'll be back later" and the both started down the sidewalk to the movies.
They were soon in front of the movie theatre and saw both Rick and Luke. Rick had tan skin, chocolate brown eyes, and has brown hair that was all nice and neat. Luke had much paler skin, black hair that almost covered his brilliant green eyes. Both were a little over six feet tall and had a strong build that made both girls blush.
Luke and Rick smiled as they looked the two girls up and down. Samantha was wearing a white T under a black coat in skinny jeans in black knee-high boots. Her red hair was in a braid to the left and it let her beautiful green eyes shine in the lights on the streets. Luke smiled at her, more than approving of her outfit. Rick was paying more attention to Tammy who was wearing a black tank top in boot cut jeans and black sandals. Her black hair was left down and covered a portion of her tan shoulders. Both boys nodded towards the theatre, Rick took Tammy's hand as they started walking in and Luke and Samantha linked arms as they started walking in.
They stopped when the heard a huge crash. They all turned around as they saw a building across from them come falling towards them. Samantha's eyes went wide, her mind trying to process what was happening. She felt herself being pushed to the side by someone. She was brought back to reality when she heard a scream. She realized that that was Tammy and she soon heard Rick yelling for help too. She got up and ran for her friend whose leg was trapped underneath the rubble with Luke and Rick trying to get her leg out. She ran over as well but as soon as she made it over Tammy's body fell, reviling a bullet hole in the middle of her for head. "Tammy!" She screamed as she ran over to her limp body, tears already pouring down her face. She looked up and looked for the shooter…batarians. She growled in anger but soon felt despair as one of the batarians shot Rick too. Luke wasn't letting neither he nor Samantha die too. He grabbed her arm and started pulling her away from the two bodies. When she refused to leave he grabbed her by her waist and slung her over his shoulder and, as quickly as he could, got them to cover.
He put her down and grabbed her shoulders and stated calmly, "Sam, we have to get out of here."
Samantha looked down then up to his eyes a new wave of fear running through her. "My family! We have to go there, please!" She cried quietly so she did not give up their position. He nodded, knowing that she was going to go weather he agreed or not.
They sneaked past a few of the batarians and went in a back-way towards her house and cut through her family's field, and ran to into the house through the back door. She shouted for her family and she heard her dad answer from their basement. She pulled Luke down with her and she sighed in relief at the sight of her family unharmed. She let go of Luke's hand and ran into her father's strong arms, her mother and sister same into the hug as well. Sam's dad kissed the tops of their head and whispered protectively, "I'm not going to let anything happen to my girls."
Luke felt out of place and as if her dad felt it he looked up and straight at Luke and smiled with tears in his eyes, let go of the three girls and walked over to him and hugged him. "Thank you, for bringing my baby girl home." Sam smiled as she looked at both of the men.
They loving moment soon passed as they heard the doors being broken open. Her dad commanded the girls get into the corner, turned to Luke and handed him a pistol and said two words "Protect them". Luke nodded and her dad turned off the lights.
They heard muffled voices above. "Have you found anyone?"
"No sir." One reported.
"There are three females and one male from all the stuff they got." Spoke another voice spoke.
The one that was called "sir" spoke again. "Keep the females alive if you can, but kill the male." There were five "yes sirs" in reply. She guessed he was the leader.
Samantha's mom held on to both she and Mya who was silently crying into Sam. She in turn clutched her sister not letting her go. She saw the silhouette of her dad, Luke, and Trixie as they were ready to protect them at all costs. She felt her throat tighten as the door started to open and they saw the head of a batarian pop through the door way. "Someone get the lights." The batarian in the doorway commanded. Her dad motioned for them to get into the connecting room in the basement and they complied. Luke, her dad and Trixie followed into the room and then the lights came on. Mya was shaking as she clung to Sam while Sam tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
"Check that room. They are in there. I can smell them." The batarian, who she assumed was the leader, ordered. Then a batarian came into the room and her dad shot him in the chest. The batarian fell to the ground with a gurgle as he choked on his own blood.
"They're armed!" A second batarians cried as he walked into the door way. He screamed in pain as her dad also shot him. The last three came in together and. They opened fire on her father and he slumped to the ground, blood flowing from the wounds and his mouth.
"Daddy!" Mya cried as she let go of Sam and ran for their lifeless father. "Mya!" Her mother yelled as she went for Mya. One of the batarians attempted to go for her mom and sister, but Luke shot the batarian, who then fell right in front of Sam's mother and sister. One of the last batarians shot Luke in the abdomen, the other shot her mother. They went to grab her sister and Trixie launched herself at the batarian, bringing him to the ground and bighting him repeatedly. While the batarian struggled with Trixie, Sam ran over to Mya and held her. A gunshot and a yelp went through the air as the leader had shot her beloved germen shepherd and help the injured comrade back to his feet.
They came towards the two girls, the injured one taking her sister and the leader picking up Sam by her neck. Sam kicked and screamed as she saw her sister disappear beyond the door way, still hearing her petrified screams echo throughout the house. The leader shoved her against the wall, his hand still on her neck, as his other hand traced down the length of her body, he growled in approval and growled out, "I should just keep you as my personal slave. You are very beautiful for a human." He chuckled as he began to lick her neck. Sam felt herself go cold at the realization of what he was doing. She felt more tears slide down her face then…BANG! The batarian leader's head exploded, blood landing on her face, and the corpse fell to the ground. She fell to her knees and released a breath she didn't know she was holding and looked towards Luke who managed to pull himself to a wall, a hand on a wound on his abdomen and another holding the pistol her father had given him. She ran over to him. "Luke!" She cried into his chest. "Th-they have M-Mya!" She sobbed.
He let go of the gun and put his arm around her. "There is nothing you can do now, she's gone."
"No! She can't be! I-I can still save her!" She sobbed into him. He said nothing else just ran his hand up and down her back. She felt something warm and sticky on her hands and looked up to him. "Oh my gosh! You're still bleeding! I have to go get you medigel."
"Just get yourself into the woods. Don't worry about me, I'm dead weight. I'll get you killed." He gasped out.
"Like hell I'm leaving you. I lost everyone and I'm not going to lose you too. There is some medigel in the bathroom upstairs." She persisted.
"…Fine go get it, but take the pistol with you. I can't let anything happen to you." He smiled and handed her the pistol. She smiled and gave him a small peck on the lips, took the pistol, and hastily walked up the stairs.
Her house was a disaster, furniture was overturned, pictures were broken, and all there food had been went through. She looked in every room for more batarians but found no one. She sneaked up the stairs and looked in all the rooms like she did downstairs. Once she knew nobody else was in the house she ran into her bathroom and grabbed all the medigel and went downstairs to the basement.
When she looked at Luke again he was much pale. How long had she been down there? His eyes were closing every few moments. She didn't have a lot of time. Rushing over to him, she applied the medigel and the bleeding stopped. They both let out a sigh of relief. She knew this wouldn't last, she just hopped they got out a distress beacon in time. She helped him up and he let out a strangled cry as pain shot through him, but he continued, ignoring Sam's concerned eyes. Once they were in the kitchen she went over to the window to see if there was anyone outside. She felt her hand go for the pistol as batarians started coming towards her home. They walked in, and out of instinct and anger she shot one, then another. They were dead before they even realized what was going on.
She turned and put an arm around Luke's waist and his arm around her shoulder. He was confused but all she did was nod back to the group of batarians that now lay dead in their own blood. His brows shot in surprised and was about to ask her how she did it, but he shut his mouth when he saw an angry sneer on her face. He looked to where she was walking and saw that she was heading towards the woods.
Samantha and Luke sat in the wood. Luke cringed as Samantha removed his shirt to get a better look at the wound. She hasn't said a word since they left the house, not since she had killed that group of batarians. He still didn't know how since he was still light headed from the blood loss. He inhaled sharply as she applied more medigel. She looked up at him concern in her gaze. He mouthed I'm fine and she smirked for a moment and rolled her eyes. She rested his head on her lap and ran her fingers through it. He hummed in appreciation. He was brought out of the trance as she spoke softly, her fingers still running through his hair. "Do you think help will come? That we'll be saved?" She wasn't looking at him, lost in thought.
"I sure hope so." He said softly as he ran his hand across her cheek. She flinched at the contact, and for a minute looked down at him with a look that could kill. Those damn batarians are going to pay for what they have done to his Sam.
Samantha woke up from her unrestful sleep as he heard a strangled, pained, cry. She looked only to see Luke holding his wound as fresh blood slipped through his fingers. His head was still on her lap and she instantly took off her shirt and used it to stop the bleeding. The shirt soon became soaked with blood, his blood. He looked at her; they both knew he wouldn't survive. Tears silently fell from her face as she held him in her arms. He smiled at her and caressed her cheek. She leaned down and kissed him, a soft loving kiss. They pulled back from each other and he whispered, "I love you." She didn't have time to say anything back as his eyes rolled back into his head, and he died silently in her arms.
.0.
Garrus was startled from sleep as he heard a horrifying scream and thrashing coming from his left. He turned and saw the one who was screaming was Samantha. She had tears running down her face. He reacted by grabbing her shoulders and shaking her while he steadily commanded, "Sam, wake up, it's just a dream."
Her eyes flew open as she let out a final scream that made him wince. Realizing that she was on the Normandy and not Mindoir, she calmed down just a bit but the pain was still there after all these years. She left her breathing level and met Garrus' worried eyes and rests her head on his chest. "I'm sorry Garrus I just…had a bad dream."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He soothed while stroking her red locks.
She sighed into his chest. "I just dreamed about what happened on Mindoir. How I lost everyone and I won't get them back. How the batarians took my sister and I wasn't able to do anything, how my friend died, how my parents died, how my dog died, and even…how my boyfriend, at the time, died. I killed a group of them, you know. I still don't know how, I was just so angry and scared, I just…reacted.
Luke…my boyfriend at the time, died in my arms right as the shuttle from the Alliance landed. I yelled at them, telling them that they should have gotten here earlier. They helped me bury my parents, my dog, and Luke. It hurt so much to feel like that, to know that everyone else was either dead or taken as a slave. I can still feel the guilt as I saw a batarian take my sister away while I was being held in place by the leader. H-he said that I should be his personal slave. If it wasn't for Luke he would have…" She felt new tears fall freely at the horrible memory.
Garrus growled in anger, wanting to kill any batarians he saw, but felt…appreciation towards her now dead boyfriend, who gave his life protecting her. He brought his taloned hand up and underneath her face so that she was looking at him. "Don't cry." He whispered soothingly as he kissed her forehead.
Her tears subsided and she smiled, kissing him on mandible and brushed her fingers along his scarred face. He purred and nuzzled into her neck. She giggled and threw her head back and gave him better access to her neck. He loved the sound of her giggling and continued to nip and kiss her neck. She laughed and pulled away, making Garrus growl as he looked into her green eyes with his piercing blue ones, promising to protect her. Her eyes softened as she got up and saw him have a slight pout.
She grinned mischievously. "What do we have here, Garrus Vakarian pouting because he did not get his way? Well I will have to fix that later, won't I?"
His mandibles flutter as he thought of what to say while she just laughed and went to her terminal since she still needed to look at the new dossiers. She transferred the dossiers to a data pad and walked over to her music player and put on some old rock music from 2012, what can she say, she likes the classics. The first song that played was her favorite. Swing Life Away by Rise Against and started sing to it as she sat back down next to Garrus.
"Am I loud and clear, or am I breaking up?
Am I still your charm, or am I just bad luck?
Are we getting closer, or are we just getting more lost?
I'll show you mine if you show me yours first
Let's compare scars, I'll tell you whose is worse
Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words
We live on front porches and swing life away,
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand
I've been here so long, I think that it's time to move
The winter's so cold, summer's over too soon
Let's pack our bags and settle down where palm trees grow
I've got some friends, some that I hardly know
But we've had some times, I wouldn't trade for the world
We chase these days down with talks of the places that we will go
We live on front porches and swing life away,
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand...until you hold my hand
I'll show you mine if you show me yours first
Let's compare scars, I'll tell you whose is worse
Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words
We live on front porches and swing life away,
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand
Swing life away, swing life away, swing life away, swing life away."
As she finished the song Garrus looked at her in surprise. She didn't even have to concentrate on the words because she was still scrutinizing the dossiers. She looked up and saw his surprised face. "Hey, just because I can't dance, doesn't mean I can't sing."
He let out a bark of laughter. "So who are we picking up now?"
Her face scrunched up in thought. "Well, a drell assassin named Thane Krios; he is on Illium right now, which is a good thing since we were heading there anyway. An asari justicar named Samara, she is also on Illium. And Tali, she's on Haestrom doing some mission for the fleet.
So, when we get to Illium, which should be soon, we'll split up. Miranda needs to relocate her sister so I'll go with her. I'll let you get Samara and afterwards you will get Thane. When we finish relocating Miranda's sister we'll come and join up. The once those things are done then we can go get Tali."
Garrus didn't like the idea of leading again but nodded to her plan, knowing it was the best plan of action. "Alright, sounds good."
She smiled and put a hand on his arm. "I know you can do this. But we should both get ready. We should be there soon." He smiled in return and got up and left her room feeling a little more confident about the upcoming missions.
She sighed, grabbed a fresh change of clothes and headed to the washroom. Today is certainly going to be a long day. She thought to herself as she turned on her shower and got ready for the day.
.0.
Twenty minutes later Sam was walking through the CIC, heading straight for Joker. "Hey Joker, how far away from Illium?"
"About ten minutes, Sam."
"Thanks Joker. EDI can you please tell gather everyone in the debriefing room?" She asked the AI
"Of course Shepard." The AI's feminine voice replied.
Sam nodded and headed to the debriefing room, Jacob right on her heels. Soon everyone was assembled in the room and she could start. "Alright everyone we have new people to pick up. Two of them are on Illium, Thane Krios and Samara. Now Miranda, I know you have some business to do there so I'm splitting us up into two groups. Garrus will be in charge of the second group and you will be getting Thane and Samara, Miranda and I will go take care of her business. I expect you to take orders from him as you would me, am I clear." The only ones she worried about taking orders from Garrus was Jack, Grunt, and Zaeed, but she was confident Garrus could do it.
She received a yes ma'am, yeses, and whatever from them and nodded. "Good now all of you get ready. Kasumi, Jacob, Zaeed, and I will help you guys as soon as possible." They all nodded and continued their way out of the debrief room. Joker's voice came over the speaker, asking if she wanted to dock. She quickly said yes and went back up to her room to get her armor on.
.0.
Once she had her armor on she walked into the armory to get her M-98 Widow and her M-6 Carfinex, and then waited near the air lock for everyone else. They all came one by one, ready to go. She counted everyone then nodded as the exited the Normandy, ready to get this mission over with.
When they were walking out of the airlock an asari and to mechs greeted them. The asari told them that their docking fees had been paid by Liara. Samantha was shocked to say the least, as was Garrus. When they questioned the asari deflected them and told them to go speak with Liara. Samantha turned to their group, sighing deeply through her nose. It's not that she didn't like Liara, but they were in a hurry to get to Tali. "Alright change of plans…Miranda go ahead and talk to your contact, I'll be there shortly. Garrus, you go ahead and start your search for Thane and Samara. I'll go talk to Liara."
They all nodded and started walking away, Garrus casted a glance back at her as she stayed behind to ask the asari where to find Liara. She thanked the woman and walked towards her office. She walked up the stairs and saw an asari, who was not Liara, sitting behind a desk across from another door. The asari looked up, an all too friendly smile. "Hello ma'am, I am Nyxeris, Miss T'Soni's secretary, do you have a sechedualed appointment with her?"
"Um…no…But Liara knows who I am, she asked me to come and see her."
"Could I have your name please, so that I can inform Miss T'Soni of your arrival?"
"Commander Samantha Shepard." Nyxeris began typing into her terminal, then rose from her seat and began walking to the door across from them.
Sam and Nyxeris walked into the room only to see Liara and a holo of a man. "Have you faced an asari commando before? Few humans have. I'll make it simple. Either you pay me, or I flay you alive. With my mind. "Liara didn't seem to notice either of them until after she made her threat to the man. She turned around quickly, surprise and guilt written over her face.
"Samantha!" She looked at Nyxeris. "Nyxeris, hold my calls." The other asari bowed her head and left the room. Liara turned her attention back to Samantha and walked over to her. Liara's happiness was evident as she pulled Samantha into a warm embrace.
As if still not believing her eyes the asari whispered, "Ahh…Sam." Even though Sam should be in a hurry, she wrapped her own arms around her, hugging Liara back. Liara pulled back and had a semi-serious face on, something the commander did not expect to see. "My sources said you were alive, but I never believed…It's good to see you." The last part she finished with a smile.
Sam shook her head and ran a gloved hand down it while sighing, "How much did I miss? Since when do you make threats to flay people alive, have "sources", and is serious. What happened to my happy archeologist?"
A wave of emotions flashed over Liara's face as she sighed. "A lot has happened Sam, some things larger than others…" Guilt etched into her face. "I've been working as an information broker… It's paid the bills since you… well for the past two years. And now your back, hunting the Collectors alongside with Cerberus." As if the asari knew Sam would argue she quickly added in, "And I know you are not with them intentionally, that if you had the chance you would go back to the Alliance."
Sam nodded. "Then you know I could use some help with this, you know." Her eyes pleading.
Liara felt pained as she denied helping her friend. "I can't, Sam. I'm sorry. I have commitments here, things I need to take care of."
Sam nodded in understanding. "What kind of things do you need to take of? I'm busy right now but I can help. Are you in trouble?"
Liara smiled at her friend's willingness to help. "No, no trouble. But it's been a long two years. I had things to do, debts to repay. But when you have time, if you want to, I need someone with hacking expertise; I know you are good with tech. If you could disable security at key points around Illium, you could get me information I need. That would help me a great deal."
Sam was taken aback by the request. "What the hell, Liara! You're asking me to hack into security for information, that's a big deal! Can't you just talk to me?" Why is it that everyone is so different! Because this is not the Liara I know.
Liara looked hurt. "Don't you think I want to, Sam. I wish I could tell you more but…I don't want you to get too involved with this mess. I will handle it on my own, please Samantha this is all I ask."
Sam breathed through her nose. "Fine, I'll get it done…" Sam's omni-tool lit up; tell her she had a new message. She opened it, it was from Garrus.
Hey Sam,
Hope your talk with Liara is going good, tell her I said "hi". Wish I could say the same. We've got a problem though. We have no idea where to start. Nothing on the dossier tells us where to find them. Help would be appreciated.
-Garrus
An idea popped into her head. She looked back to Liara, who was looking at her curiously. "Who was it from Sam?"
"Garrus, he said "hi" by the way. Anyway, we have a problem. We are looking for to more people to recruit for our mission but we don't know where to find them. Since you have information and a lot of things, do you know of anyone by the names of; Thane Krios and Samara?"
Liara's eyes lit up. "Samara…" She typed into her terminal. "Yes. She recently arrived and registered with Tracking Officer Dara. You can find Dara at the transportation hub. And with the assassin…" She typed into her terminal again. "He arrived here a few days ago. It seems he may be targeting a corporate executive. Do you remember Nassana Dantius, the one who tricked us into killing her sister? Anyway, he contacted a woman named Seryna. She has an office in the cargo transfer levels. She may be able to tell you where Krios is."
Sam smiled as she began typing a message back to Garrus.
We're in luck, Garrus.
Apparently, if you didn't know already, Liara has turned into an information broker. That being said, I managed to get two leads on our recruits me back at Eternity. It will be best to do this in person. And if you see Miranda, tell her I'll be there soon.
-Sam
She got up and hugged Liara again. "Thanks Liara, this is going to make things so much easier. When I'm done I will be sure to come and talk to you before I leave."
Liara hugged back. "I'll hold you to that Sam. It was good to see you again."
As she left, Sam nodded at Nyxeris, and walked towards Eternity. Her mind going over the information Liara had given her. As she walked into Eternity, she saw none of her squad mates besides Miranda who was already walking towards her, her face troubled. She was about to ask what's wrong but a voice, one that she never hoped to hear again, called out to her. "Is that you!?Commander Shepard it's me! Conrad Verner!"
AN: Okay, this chapter has taken a bit yes, I hope it's not to long. Not a lot going on now, but there will be some action next ch. I really hope this chapter gets a little more reviews. They make me so happy! And yes...I could not leave Conrad out of this... I will also be including all DLCs from both ME2 and ME3.
Anyway, R&R
-LadyAssassin