Chapter 29
Shepard lay next to her sleeping bondmate, trailing her fingers along the lovely freckles under her eyes. Liara's face twitched ever so slightly. Shepard didn't want to wake her, but the scene before her was so beautiful she was finding it difficult not to do so. The Thessian sun was spilling through their bedroom window, ushering in a new day and cascading over Liara's incredible blue skin. It was making Shepard's heart want to explode with gooey feelings. It was also making her wonder what the hell happened to the hardened soldier she used to be. When she first met Liara, she would have laughed in her own face if she'd have told herself she'd be here now, a little over three and a half years later, gazing so adoringly at the asari beneath her.
Her hand drifted to Liara's neck, running along a trail of lavender freckles that spread out across her chest. She was grateful, certainly not for the first time, that Liara made the "no clothes in bed" rule. She adored waking up skin to skin, feeling the warmth of her bondmate pressed so closely against her. Her hand paused for a moment to lavish attention on a perfect blue breast, then continued its path down Liara's stomach.
Shepard's hand stopped. Something was different. Very different.
She pushed the blankets down and stared in awe at Liara's stomach. How in the world had she missed that?! Liara was showing. Shepard felt a flash of regret, realizing the reason she hadn't noticed was because since arriving on Thessia three weeks ago, they'd simply been too busy for intimacy. Their schedules had been a bit different since Shepard started dealing with ambassador duties, and Liara was still helping organize local farmers and communications.
She lovingly caressed Liara's stomach, memorizing every inch and enjoying the feel of her hand raising when it passed over the bump of her stomach. She allowed herself to feel the swell of pride building up inside her. Liara was pregnant with her daughters. Commander Nicole Shepard's daughters. It had not taken a miracle of science, gene splicing, borrowing sperm from some faceless man; no. The lives growing inside her bondmate were all hers. A delighted shudder rippled through her. Goddess it was such an incredible turn-on seeing Liara's raised stomach, knowing she was the cause of it.
Shepard's hand continued its trail downward until it reached its desired destination between Liara's legs. A smile curved her lips as she began toying with the smooth, familiar landscape and again Liara stirred again but did not wake. She wasn't normally such a heavy sleeper, and Shepard wanted to take advantage of the moment while it lasted. She'd tried many times before to awaken Liara with an orgasm, but her bondmate always woke up long before she could get her secret wish. She knew she'd have to proceed with caution, slowly work up the sleeping asari.
Shepard used a single finger to slowly tease Liara's azure in an up and down motion, circling with every upward stroke and delighted when she felt moisture begin to pool. Liara moaned softly in her sleep and for a moment Shepard feared she would wake up, but fortunately she just shifted a little. The human went back to her task, sprinkling light kisses on Liara's face as her hand increased speed and pressure. She heard Liara's breath hitch and the asari jerked her head, her face taking on a pained expression. Shepard realized she must have caught Liara coming out of REM sleep, which is why she wasn't awake yet. Smiling, Shepard shifted on the bed and began gently suckling on one of her bondmate's breasts, continuing her careful ministrations.
Shepard's devoted care at last paid off. Liara's eyes flew open just in time for them to clamp shut again as an orgasm sent her body into convulsions and she groaned out Shepard's name as she came into her hand. She felt blue hands entangle in her hair as she worshiped Liara's breasts with her lips and tongue. But one simply wasn't enough. Shepard was insatiably aroused, and now that Liara was awake, the pressure between her legs only got worse. She shifted her body to settle between her bondmate's legs and kissed her way to her stomach.
"Goddess, do you know how much of a turn-on this is?" Shepard breathed against her lover's raised stomach. "You are so beautiful. And you're carrying my twins. I did this. And it's so beautiful. Your body is beautiful. You're beautiful."
"Shepard . . ." Liara finally managed to gasp out a word; the only word she'd be saying for quite some time if Shepard had anything to say about it. She continued kissing her way down until she reached her lover's arousal, then sealed her lips around her still-pulsating azure.
She groaned against Liara when she felt wetness coat her chin and quickly slipped her tongue in her silky walls to taste the moisture building there. Hands tightened in red hair, just bordering on painful and that alone sent Shepard's mind reeling. She frequently encouraged her gentle lover to be a bit more rough with her, and when she was, it did incredible things to the human's body. With great self-restraint, Shepard tore her mouth away from Liara and sat up on the bed so she could rake her eyes over her naked lover. Liara was panting, covered in a sheen of sweat, and silently pleading with Shepard not to stop. She leaned over the asari to grab a couple of pillows, then in a display of strength, used her free arm to lift Liara's hips off the bed and slide the pillows beneath them.
"I think I'm going to get comfortable and stay a while," she said in a gleefully seductive voice, settling back between Liara's legs. She encouraged Liara to wrap both her knees around the human's shoulders, and when she was in place, Shepard once again lowered her mouth to feast on her lover's deliciously wet opening. Shepard held true to her word. She set a languid pace, enjoying the constant groans of frustration and pleasure tumbling from Liara's lips. The asari cried out when two fingers penetrated her, teasing her intensely pleasurable spot within. Every time Shepard could sense Liara coming dangerously close to the edge of orgasm, she would pull away and sprinkle soothing kisses on her lover's inner thighs. After doing this six times, poor Liara was a trembling, sobbing mess.
"Oh please Shepard . . . please uhn! Please let mm-! Please let me come!" she gasped out when Shepard sealed her lips around Liara's azure for the seventh time.
A shiver ran through Shepard. It wasn't easy getting Liara to beg (something to do with asari pride, probably), but when she did, it drove Shepard wild. It also made it impossible to deny her. She at last gave Liara the stimulation she knew she desired (and desperately needed) and within moments Liara's back arched off the bed with a cry of pained ecstasy. Shepard felt Liara's mind push forcefully against her own, demanding a Meld as she reached for orgasm. Shepard happily pulled Liara into her mind, and the moment she did, both of then groaned out in pleasure as orgasm claimed Liara's body. Shepard fell right along with her bondmate, easing some of the intense pressure between her own legs. When Liara released the last of her orgasm into Shepard's mouth, she collapsed back on the bed, her arms splayed out at her sides and her eyes glazed over.
After pulling the pillows from beneath Liara, Shepard climbed up the bed and settled next to Liara, showering her with kisses and running her hand over her bondmate's raised stomach.
"I love you, Liara T'Soni," Shepard whispered, pressing a light kiss to the asari's temple.
"Goddess, Shepard I love you too," Liara replied, turning her head to gaze adoringly at the human. "What brought this on?"
"You're showing. I can see the life growing inside you, the life that I fathered. It . . . put me in a mood."
With a very pleased smile, Liara pulled her commander in for another kiss, and their bodies entangled in an embrace as the languid kiss deepened. Shepard broke the kiss to pull the blankets back over them, hiding Liara from the galaxy. She wasn't sure why, but she was feeling particularly possessive of Liara of late. She read somewhere that asari gave off particularly strong pheromones when they were pregnant, which probably had something to do with it.
"I want a Bonded tattoo," Shepard murmured, nuzzling into Liara's neck.
"Really?" Liara replied, her voice heavy with sleepiness.
Grinning, Shepard lifted her head to gaze at her poor tired bondmate. "I did some research on asari Bonding tattoos. Usually they're designed to reflect lineage. My ancestors come from a country called Ireland, so I was thinking I would design mine with Celtic knots. It's customary to have the Bonded tattoo around the wrist, correct?"
Liara's eyes focused on her, coming out of her somewhat groggy state. "You're serious? You . . . you wouldn't mind having a tattoo?"
"Of course I'm serious," Shepard replied. "If I want you to wear a ring - a human symbol of marriage - then it's only fair I have the asari symbol for Bonding. I think it would be kind of poetic if we each wore the other's symbol for 'matrimony,' don't you?"
Liara sighed happily and nuzzled closer to Shepard. "Stop making me love you so much. It's driving me crazy."
Shepard chuckled against soft blue skin. "Oh sorry, demanding Doctor of mine."
"Shepard?" Liara said, and the human detected a hint of shyness in her voice.
"Hmm?" she said, placing a reassuring kiss on her cheek.
"I . . . I've thought of names for our daughters. That is . . . I've thought of some ideas for their names."
"Oh? Do share," Shepard murmured, encouraging her bondmate with more kisses.
"What do you think of Naiala and Elaria? Naiala is a similar name to Nicole in our language, and Elaria is a variation of the name Liara. They may be . . . slightly self-serving names, but . . . these two, our twins, they are a culmination of our love. They are the physical representation of what you and I become when we join together in unity. I want their names to reflect . . . us."
Shepard almost cried, truth be told. She did manage to keep from making a scene, but she couldn't stop tears from stinging her eyes. "They're beautiful names. Perfect. In fact I insist we keep these names."
Liara answered by making love to Shepard the rest of the morning, demonstrating to Shepard again and again the pure beauty of what they could create when they came together in the oldest act of love.