Wow, it was awhile for this one. Can not say that new chapters will be coming any quicker, but I do promise that I haven't forgotten about this story. No Beta, so the mistakes are all mine. Enjoy!
Bellow their house, Tali and Shepard have a series of subbasements. In one of them is a four mile long shooting range where at present two of the best friends in the whole of the Galaxy, Shepard and Garrus, now stand doing what they do best. Talking and shooting.
"I hate to admit it, but when you first told me about you and Liara, I was surprised," Shepard admits as he cycles through a list of holographic targets at the end of the range.
"While we were on Thessia, rooting through the wreckage for surviving pieces of Asari history, she told me her heartbreaking story," Garrus answers. "About how she had fallen in love with this one human idiot who never really returned her affection. After he ran off with some Quarian Girl with a nice ass, she started to feel really lonely, and the best way she could think of dealing with that loneliness was to crawl into bed with a battle scarred Turian war hero. And...well, who was I to argue?"
Deciding on a couple of Blue Sun members of various races, Shepard kneels down and takes aim with his Indra. "So you're saying Liara thought to take note of Tali's ass?" he asks.
"No offense Shepard, but after she came back to the ship, just about everyone took note of her ass," Garrus mentions right before his human buddy starts firing.
In a few seconds the Indra's magazine is empty and all the holographic targets are gone. "What do you think of that?" Shepard asks, standing up.
"Sloppy," Vakarian answers.
"Sloppy?" Shepard asks. "I just took out all five of the targets in a few seconds."
"Yes you did," Garrus agrees. "And the wall and any other living thing behind them. That weapon you are so proud of isn't a sniper rifle, its just an assault rifle with a very long range. My Red Widow on the other hand..." he says before bringing the targets back up and kneeling down. He swiftly takes aim and fires five times in rapid succession, causing the heads of all five of the holographic men to explode. "...she is a sniper rifle. The point of a sniper rifle, hell the point of any gun, is to end a target with each bullet it fires."
"I've found full auto is a much more effective and sure fire way to take out opposition," his human friend says, with a smile.
"Well of course you do, you are the kind of sadistic son of a bitch who likes to clear out a room with a Revenant loaded with inferno rounds," Garrus says with a laugh.
Shepard laughs with him for a bit before putting the Indra back on the wall and grabbing his fully customized M-76 Revenant machine gun. "Now that you've mentioned it, you have never tried this beast out, have you?"
"Well, like I said, it goes against what I think a gun should do in battle," the Turian replies.
"But we aren't in battle right now," Shepard says, handing the light machine gun to him. "We are just on the practice range, having some fun," he adds, keying up a favorite scenario which has several reaper targets at close to mid range with a good amount of cover.
"Hmm...you make a good point," Garrus says, loading a thermal clip into the gun and making a few quick calibrations to it. "All joking aside, how have you and Tali been doing?"
"Really good, hell lately things have taken a turn to the knee shaking fantastic," Shepard tells him.
"Oh? What's changed?" Garrus asking.
"Oh my friend, let me tell you about a little miracle called the GII Implant..."
…
"You said the group was called the Quarian Interspecies Medical Group, right?" Liara asks.
"Yes, why?" Tali asks from the kitchen.
"Because I'm about to sink a whole lot of cash into, with instructions to make a Asari and Turian version of the implant asap," she answers.
Tali laughs as she brings her friend a protein appropriate snack. "A little excited, aren't you?"
"Of course I am. As an Asari, being barred from certain sexual acts with my partner is something I find...just unacceptable," Liara explains.
"No arguments from me," the Quarian giggles. "Here try this, its called a grilled cheese."
The blue woman takes a tentative bite out of the sandwich at first, before quickly devouring half of it and sighing in pleasure. "This is delicious!" she exclaims.
"I know, human food is so rich in flavor," Tali agrees.
The two walk over to the window and look outside. "Your home is so beautiful Tali," Liara says as the look out across the empty expanse of Rannoch.
"Yes it is," her friend agrees. "One day I hope to be able to walk through it without this on," she says, touching her suit's helmet. "My people have only just got our world back, yet I am saddened every time I remember that you recently lost yours."
"As am I," Liara agrees. "Though Thessia is far from lost. After some extensive rebuilding, one day it will be able to support grand cities of Asari again, with some luck, in my own lifetime. Until then Illium will have to do for our Capital."
"Illium? You serious?" Tali asks, quite surprised.
"Illium has quite a lot of power, and while its far from...reparable, it sports the highest population of our people of any planet after the Invasion. Being nearly untouched by the last war also helps a lot," T'Soni explains.
"That should be good news for the Shadow Broker, I hear he/she has a lot of contacts and power on Illium," Tali says with a hidden smirk.
"Yes. I'm sure the Shadow Broker is probably using all of her considerable power to weed out corruption and work on rebuilding the Asari government. When she's not visiting friends that is," Liara agrees, with her own smile.
TBC. Reviews are always appreciated.