"Shepard!"

The commander had just made it into the hotel restaurant when she was accosted by Samantha Traynor, the shorter woman throwing her arms around her and giving her an enthusiastic hug.

"Hey, Sam." Shepard patted her on the back. "It's been too long. You're looking well."

"You too." Samantha meant it when she said it. In the nine months since the end of the Reaper War, it looked as if her former commander had shed at least five years. Once, worry lines had marred her freckled face and there had often been bags under her sharp, green eyes but now, she wore a big smile and a cheerful air. "Come on," the specialist told her, "We're over this way."

Sam led her to an outdoor table where Ashley was waiting, her recently promoted girlfriend looking very sharp in her new commander's uniform. "Hey, skipper," Ashley said warmly. "Glad you could make it."

"Me too," she agreed. "Anyway, we could all use the break." The war might have been won, but it would be years before all of the chaos it left behind could be fully resolved. Shuttling relief supplies around, hunting down pirates, and generally helping with the clean-up wasn't the most fun in the galaxy, but it beat fighting Reapers and at last, things were getting better, enough so that Shepard could justify some shore leave.

"I'm just glad I could buy you lunch," Ashley told Shepard as the red-head sat down across from her, "I mean, it's least I can do after stealing your comm specialist." Both she and Sam would've been happy to stay on the Normandy, but with the shortage of Spectres, the Council had insisted the ones they had split up to cover more ground and her lover had come with her to the cruiser Dauntless.

"Hey, no problem," Shepard laughed, "Somehow I suspect you were able to offer her a better benefits package than I could come up with anyway."

Ashley blushed a little, suddenly getting very interested in her menu, and Sam kissed her on the cheek. "Definitely," she agreed. "The best."

Eager to change the topic, Ashley looked over at Shepard. "So, I was having drinks with Tali last night, and I heard a weird rumor about you."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "What rumor would that be?"

"You know," the marine told her, shooting a downward glance at the commander's body, "About what Cerberus might have done to you when they brought you back."

The Hero of the Citadel groaned. "Tali knows? Let me guess: Garrus told her?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess it's hard to keep secrets from your girlfriend."

"God," Shepard laughed, "Barely out of the infirmary and she's already making trouble." Still, it was hard to be too angry at her old friend. She was so grateful Tali survived that she couldn't begrudge her a little gossiping.

"So," Samantha asked, "Are you keeping it?"

Ashley swatted at her shoulder for asking such a personal question, but Shepard's smile didn't fade. "Yeah," she told them, "I am. It was pretty weird at first, but, uh, I got used to it I guess," she explained, hoping she wasn't grinning too much. The memory of making love that morning with Liara on the couch in their hotel room was still fresh in her mind, and beneath the table, she felt a little stirring in her cock at the thought of the things her bondmate had done to her. "Still, though," she added, "I'd like to keep the whole affair quiet. I get weird enough questions from the press as it is."

"No problem," Ashley agreed. "How are you adjusting to being the galaxy's biggest rock star anyway?"

"It's pretty weird," the commander confessed. "Eating lunch without getting swarmed by the paparazzi didn't used to be such a challenging mission. We're just lucky this hotel is good at keeping them out. The room cost an arm and a leg, but as it turns out, Liara is loaded."

"Lucky you," Sam laughed. "Speaking of your bondmate, is she still planning on giving up her, uh…" She lowered her voice before finishing her thought. "Her current job."

"She is. It's too much of hassle now that we're back to peacetime. Honestly, though, there's not that much to give up at this point anyway. Most of her network got trashed by the war." A wistful smile came over her face. "This time next year, the two of us and our daughter will be living someplace nice and quiet, hopefully with a distinct lack of people shooting at us."

"You're really leaving the Alliance?", Ashley asked. "Aren't you a little young to retire?"

"For good, yeah. But I think after everything we went through, we're entitled to a few years off. When we're ready, we'll figure out something else to do. I could see trying archeology with her. God knows I've already visited my share of ruins."

"Well, Liara would probably prefer if you didn't blow quite so many of them up," Ashley laughed. She glanced at the time-code on her omni-tool. "Where is she anyway?", the marine asked. "I thought she was going to be joining us."

"She should be here soon," Shepard replied, "She's just keeping an old promise."

Oriana Lawson didn't know quite what to expect. Pretty much everyone left alive in the galaxy knew who Liara T'Soni was, and a 20-year-old college student, even a very talented one, was shocked to receive a seemingly genuine extranet message informing her that the asari wanted to meet with her. Oriana was too smart not to have realized that someone powerful had taken an interest in her family, but as she walked up the stairs to Liara's office, she couldn't for the life of her figure out why.

There was a reception desk outside the office, but since no one was sitting at it, Oriana decided to just go straight in. Behind the desk inside sat the famous asari, dressed in a long white coat, dark blue pants and a loose turquoise top. Beneath it, Oriana could see a slight bulge in her stomach, but that was hardly a surprise; half the celebrity media in the galaxy seemed to be focused on the child she and Shepard were going to have.

Liara looked up when the human entered, extending a friendly smile. "Hello, Oriana," she said briskly. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I'm sorry about coming in unannounced, Doctor T'Soni," she said, still a little nervous at meeting someone like her. "There was no one at the desk."

"Oh, don't worry," Liara said with a dismissive gesture. "I had to let the woman who worked there go some time ago, and since I rarely use this office anymore, I never replaced her." She gestured to a chair in front of her desk. "Please, have a seat."

Oriana did as she was bid, and the asari continued, "I assume you're wondering about the purpose of my message."

She nodded. "I am. I mean, I'd figured out somebody was pulling strings for my family, but I had no idea it was you."

Liara was amused. The sudden job offer for Oriana's father on Ilium, the first-class flight arranged on short notice when the war made such things almost impossible to do, the occasional observers she'd sent to keep an eye on the family: she couldn't be surprised that someone as intelligent as Miranda Lawson's sister had noticed a pattern.

"So," Liara told her, "I know you are aware that you were adopted as an infant, but what you may not be aware of are the unusual circumstances behind that adoption." Oriana shook her head, and Liara touched a button on her omni-tool. "The file I have just sent you contains some basic information; please take a few moments to look at it."

The Shadow Broker sat quietly while Oriana pulled up her own omni-tool and studied the information she'd been given. It was interesting for Liara to watch her read; on the surface, she looked so like her sister, and yet where Miranda had always carefully controlled her emotions, there was something guileless about the younger Lawson. Liara could see surprise, confusion, and some small bit of sadness in her eyes as she learned of the father who had ordered her creation and the sister who had given up everything to rescue her.

When she finished, the young human looked up at Liara. "Why are you telling me this all?", she asked, sounding a bit agitated. "What's your connection to me?"

"I knew your sister, Miranda," she explained. "After escaping with you, she eventually became a high-ranking member of Cerberus, which brought us into contact a few years before the war."

Oriana blanched. "What was she like?", she asked nervously. "I mean, I know what they say about Cerberus, about what they did. Was she a monster? She did rescue me after all."

Liara had thought for a long time about what she would say when Oriana asked her this question. In the end, she had decided on a mild version of the truth. Her sister didn't need to hear all of the gory details of Miranda's misdeeds, but at the same time, the operative had been a blunt person. She wouldn't have wanted her sister to have a sugar-coated version of the past.

"It is complicated," she told her. "There were things she did as a member of Cerberus that were morally questionable, even villainous. We fought rather viciously at times. But there was also much to be said on her behalf. What she did, she did because she believed it was in the best interests of humanity, or to protect you, and when she realized the depths of the Illusive Man's evil, she helped Shepard to stop him."

"My sister knew Shepard?" Inwardly, Liara laughed to herself. The mention of her bondmate's name seldom failed to get people's attention. "Were they friends?"

"No," Liara admitted, "But in time they came to respect each other as comrades in arms, as did I. Miranda was instrumental in helping Shepard to recover after…" She paused, never quite certain how to describe what had happened to her bondmate. "After a very serious injury and in the end, she gave her life fighting beside her, which is why before she died, I made your sister a promise that I would let you know the sacrifices that she made for you and for the galaxy."

"Thank you," Oriana replied. "I guess all kids like me wonder about where they came from. I always imagined it was something mysterious and cool, but I have to admit, I never could've come up with this." She shook her head. "It's a lot to process, but I'm glad I have the truth now. I wish I could have spent time with Miranda, but it's good to know I had a sister that loved me and looked out for me."

"You are most welcome, Oriana. And," she added, "If you have any further questions, please let me know."

The student got up to leave, but before she made it to the door, a final concern occurred to her. "Doctor T'Soni," she asked, "Do I need to be worried about my father finding me again now that the war's over?" From the file she'd been sent, she understood why Miranda had taken her away from the man; he seemed to be quite a nasty piece of work.

"Do an extranet search for his name," Liara told her enigmatically. "I think you'll be just fine."

Oriana left the office and once she was back out in the streets of Ilium, she did as Liara had suggested. As the headline from 6 months earlier came up on her omni-tool's screen she gasped slightly. "Notorious Industrialist Henry Lawson Killed in Unexplained Skycar Crash." Liara might not have been her sister's friend, but Oriana was damn glad she hadn't ended up as her enemy.

By the time Liara got to the hotel restaurant, Shepard and her former crewmates were already eating and when she approached the table, her bondmate turned around at the sound of her footsteps. "Hey, sweetheart," she told her, "I didn't know what you wanted to eat, but I ordered you a fasi berry smoothie." The last few months of her pregnancy, Liara had been craving those on a fairly regular basis, and she rewarded the commander's thoughtfulness with a warm kiss.

Sitting down next to Shepard, she took a sip of her drink, savoring its sweet flavor. "I'm sorry for my lateness."

"No worries," her commander told her, "How did the meeting go?"

"Well enough, I think, under the circumstances. It was a bit odd though . Oriana looks so like her."

"Miranda's clone sister?", Ashley asked, trying to resist the urge to rub Liara's belly. Her sisters always hated that. "What's she like?"

"That's part of what made it strange. Aside from her intelligence, she is little like her sister. She is far more innocent and emotionally open."

"Innocent and open?" Sam's tone was made it clear she was surprised by that. "Hard to believe she's related to Miranda."

Shepard thought of her own clone, the monster that tried to kill her friends, who threatened to assault Liara, and what her bondmate had told her after that mission where they she killed her. "Different lives, different personalities," she told the specialist. "We're not just our genes. We're what life makes of us."

"And what we make of it," Liara added, and Shepard smiled in agreement, a warmth filling her heart as she put her arm around the shoulder of the woman she loved, the woman who had most certainly helped her to make the best of what life had thrown at her.

And that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed this story's mixture of smut, romance, and action; I definitely enjoyed writing it. If you're interested, feel free to check out Flesh is Weak, a series of smutty AU one-shots with this Shepard, and my current other story, Search and Rescue, featuring Ashley and Sha'ira. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and faved this story. I really appreciated it.