And finally after three chapters some actual conversation with our favorite asari ^^

Their ride from the Peak 15 was mostly spent in quiet. Each of the three crew members had their own mind filled with things.

Liara thought about her mother, trying to remember the nice things about her and the last minute when she managed to get out from under Saren's control and be herself again before dying.

Commander's mind was filled with the fact she let the Rachni queen live. She really hoped this one won't bite her in the ass later on and also with the fact that they just killed one of her crew mate's mother. The poor asari looked devastated.

Liara was even on Tali's mind as she wrapped her arm around the asari, giving her as much comfort as she could at that moment.

Once they arrived back in Normandy and finished with the briefing Liara made a beeline to her room.

Shepard gave her only a little time to be alone, the exact time it took her to update the council about their progress and the time it took her to plot the course on Citadel to restock before she was on her way to the medical. She nodded her 'hello' to Chakwas before going to the little room behind it. She found the asari on the ground holding her knees to her chest while her face was hidden behind them. She could even hear the light quiet sobs she was letting out.

Chloe closed the door behind her before going to sit on the ground next to Liara, not saying anything for the longest time. Then she carefully wrapped her arm around her shoulders in support.

The asari automatically leaned into the touch, hiding her face into the commander's neck as her sobs got louder.

The redhead tried to find some words for a very long time before she settled on simple: "I know how it feels to see your parents die in front of you…" She hoped that maybe talking about her past will help the girl next to her not feel alone even if just for a moment. She was speaking quietly, it was obvious that this topic wasn't something she liked to talk about. "I was raised on Mindoir. It used to be a little colony…" Liara's sobs got quieter as she listened to the commander's words. "One day a big ship came, slaver's ship…" Unconsciously her arm around the asari tightened. "They killed my whole family, my friends, everyone I knew." Her breath hitched as she relived the memories. It took her a few seconds before she was even able to continue with a shaky breath. "I watched them all die while I hid in rubble…" She could feel the asari move to watch her intently with her eyes red from the crying. "What I'm trying to say is: I know how you feel and even tho it gets easier with time the feeling will never really disappear." She finally turned to the asari with her eyes filled with unshed tears of her own.

There was silence for a long time. Both of them just looked into each other's eyes and found nothing else than understanding. It was Liara who talked first. "Do you still remember your family?"

The other woman didn't trust herself with her words so she just simply nodded.

Once again the silence settled between them and once again it was the asari who broke it. "Can you tell me about them?" It was a very quiet question which actually made Shepard look at her clearly surprised by the words. She looked away for a few moments, looking for the right words to start with. The asari didn't push, just patiently waiting, believing it will take as long as it takes.

Her patience paid up as the Spectre soon spoke up. "My mom used to be strict…" There was s soft chuckle as her eyes got glassy at the memories. "...especially when I forgot to do the dishes." She quickly shook her head at the silly memory she had before going back to being serious. "I remember her laugh. Every time she laughed it was like the whole room immediately got brighter. This is exactly what my dad always said and I never believed him. And look at me now, admitting he was right. He would never let me live this one down. He worked in the docks and every Friday he brought mom flowers and me and my sister some chocolate…" A quiet sigh followed. "Yeah I had an older sister and we fought all the time…I always stole her clothes…" Another soft chuckle escaped her as long forgotten memory showed up in her mind. "There was this dude at high school who had a crush on me." She rolled her eyes and looked at Liara, to see her watching her with s soft smile. "I was a raging lesbian so of course I wasn't interested. I was just still deep in the closet and refused to tell anyone so I was mostly just avoiding the dude, but one day he got really annoying with this and my big sis broke his nose…" A soft laugh followed. "Somehow she knew I'm not really into boys." She sighed deeply as her expression turned somber once again. "She spent three weeks in detention just because I wasn't able to say some dude I'm not interested. She never, not even once, blamed me for that." Her breath hitched and she looked down on the ground before whispering. "I miss her…"

It was Liara's time to wrap both of her arms around Chloe and give her a tight hug. "They sound like a great family…"

Shepard nodded to her words. "They were…they were…" She turned her gaze to the asari once more and smiled gratefully. "Thank you for making me remember them. It was a really long time…" She quickly wiped all the unshed tears before continuing. "But anyway we are not here because of me!" Her hand softly squeezed Liara's shoulder and a little smile showed up on her face as she hoped for the change of the subject. "I actually wanted to ask about Benezia."

The asari slowly nodded before looking away from the commander but the tiny smile was evident in her words. "I guess it's only fair I share too. Even tho we didn't talk for years. She was…" There was a second she looked for the right word. "... disappointed in me not wanting to follow in her footsteps…"

Shepard actually interrupted her with a shake of her head. "No, no, no…" There was a little smile on her face. "I remember she said she is PROUD of you…" She decided to bring up some of her last words before the matriarch died.

Liara looked at the other female and thought for a second before having a little sad smile on her face. "I guess I assumed wrong then." Another long pause followed before she as well remembered one of the fond memories of her mother. "Me and my mother lived near a park. I spent hours there. Just reading, exploring…I thought it was the most beautiful place in the world." A soft chuckle escaped her lips. "One day I went to dig around, quite literally. I destroyed her favorite patch of roses and ended up all dirty. She yelled at me for hours that day. Twice as much when I told her I just wanted to find Prothean artifacts." She could hear Shephard softly chuckling at her words, finding it very fitting for the asari next to her. "But the very next day she bought me my first book about Protheans." A soft smile spread on her face.

The smile made Shepard's heart beat faster, she couldn't help her thoughts about how beautiful the asari looked when she smiled. Her own smile grazed her lips. "Tiny Liara must have been a handful."

The asari opposite of her blushed but didn't say anything. Instead, she leaned more into the commander's hold

Chloe had to fight the urge to softly kiss the top of Liara's head. So she rather looked away from the girl on her side. It didn't stop her from holding her as tight as possible with her arm around her shoulders.

Many minutes passed by while the two just enjoyed each other's presence and the bubble of peace they created around themselves. Eventually, it was the commander who released the asari from her hold and slowly got up. "I…I should really go…need to write a report and talk with the rest of the crew…" In reality, she wanted nothing else than to stay. She watched Liara hoping that she would stop her from leaving.

"Oh…" The asari herself looked sad at the loss of the contact and her words. "I understand…" She didn't want to hold the human from her duties longer than she already did.

Shepard felt even worse when she wasn't stopped. She still lingered for a bit longer, looking really apologetic, and when all she got was a very quiet and sad: "Goodbye Chloe." she nodded, said her own goodbye, and left.

The rest of her day went by quite fast. She got to talk to Garrus and Wrex, learning that both needed help with their personal things so once they restocked on the Citadel she plotted the course to the destinations the two aliens gave her.

So she let Garrus kill Dr. Saleon, really being aboard to killing someone who is using people as test tubes, and helping Wrex get his family's armor.

Both of them seemed really grateful for the help and it even looked like they were feeling lighter and more concentrated on the mission afterward.

She also decided to check some other planets when they were at it, there are never enough resources when you're saving a galaxy. At one of those planets, she found some data about geth. She kept them just so she can read them in between missions and maybe find some weaknesses of the machines.