I was inspired to do this after playing the Legendary Edition again right before N7 day 2023. I do not own any of the characters, settings or plot points mentioned in this one shot, I did take some creative liberties with the writing as a means to expand the story I wanted to tell but that was all. They all belong to Bioware and Electronic Arts (EA) which without them, we wouldn't have Mass Effect at all.

I will always be there for you

"Good. When she went by…She just really needs you right now."

It had seemed like a nightmare if it could even be called a nightmare. But what was honestly worse than a nightmare? Tyler Shepard could only ponder that question as he stood beside Tali looking at the memorial wall, with Legion and Mordin's names added…it was just another reminder for him just how many people the war had taken from the galaxy…and how those people wouldn't wake up from that nightmare.

But was Shepard any different?

He had a family, a long time ago, back on Mindoir, he had to watch as his parents and siblings were butchered by the Batarian raiders on the planet, and all he could do was watch as the citizens were either killed in the raid or they were captured and shipped off somewhere. Sure, Tyler would get back at the Batarians during the Skyllian Blitz, when Batarian pirates would attack the colony, Shepard was the only Alliance member there and he raised an entire militia to fight back until the Alliance sent for backup.

To lose everything you knew, sure, Tyler knew what that felt like, but to know that your people had been hiding technology in a temple that no one paid attention to, and as someone who specialized in that species and to not be told about it…that one stung a bit more.

Shepard patted Tali on the shoulder and nodded as he made his way from the wall to Liara's quarters. As he did, he thought of the last time something like this happened to Liara. When he rode the elevator up, he heard Tali and Garrus talk about Liara and about how neither one of them were qualified to talk to her and that she didn't seem so depressed and upset after Noveria. But what Tali and Garrus didn't know but Liara was a wreck after Noveria and her mother, Matriarch Benezia was killed. Sure, she seemed strong on the outside, but she had to be, the Asari were always seen as the leaders of the council races and Liara had a lot to live up to, it was bad enough that crew members like Presley didn't trust aliens, but to have to continue to prove herself because everyone knew she was Benezia's daughter and that she was working with her mother was an entirely different story.

2183

Tyler Shepard sighed as he logged off the call with the Council…actually it was more like he hung up on them, he couldn't take Councilor Sparatus constantly accusing attacking his character, and he wasn't going to have him talk down to Liara like he was, she was the main reason he was alive in the first place, Benezia had nearly killed him during the attack.

He proceeded from the conference room to the stairs going down to the second floor, he needed to see her, he needed to make sure Liara was okay. When he saw her leave, she claimed it was so Doctor Chakwas could check on her and make sure she didn't overdo herself with the fight…but Tyler could see right through her, she was in pain and she was hiding how she was really feeling, to the others, they couldn't see it…but Tyler saw those types of eyes before, they were the ones he had everyday for three years after Mindoir, you don't get over seeing your entire family destroyed.

As he walked past his personal locker, he entered the medical bay. Doctor Chakwas was typing on her keyboard, looking over medical files.

"Yes Commander? Was there something you need?" Chakwas asked, looking up from her monitor.

"I…I just wanted to see if Liara was in her quarters." Tyler said calmly, he tried to maintain the same efficiency that he had always carried when he was around the crew, but this time…this time he felt like the child he was again.

"She is…" Karen could see the look on Tyler's face, she closed her monitor and stood up "Though, I think I'll get a cup of coffee. Don't think you need me listening in to the two of you."

Tyler smiled "thank you doctor."

Karen said nothing else and left him alone in the room. Once the door sealed shut, Tyler approached Liara's door and was about to give it a knock when he heard something coming from the inside of her quarters…Liara was crying.

"I hate to admit it." Liara had said to Ashley when they first met "But I am only one hundred and six.'

"…. But among the Asari, I am barely considered a child…"

She was a child amongst her people, which made the situation even worse, it would be like a six- or seven-year-old losing a parent. Tyler collected himself and gently knocked on the door twice and waited.

There was no response, but the crying had stopped.

He took this as a good sign and opened the door, there was Liara, a couple of data tablets spread across the upper section of her cot and her pillow, she was on the other end of the bed, sitting, she was back in her dark green and gray medical suit, the pieces of her light titan armor scattered across the ground at her feet, clearly in a feeble attempt to clean her equipment after the fight, elbows resting on her knees, and she was trying to wipe the tears away from her eyes. Tyler felt his heart race as he saw her, she looked up at Tyler, though the look on her face indicated confusion, her gray eyes said differently, they said that she could use someone right now.

"If you are here to talk about Benezia's death, you need not bother. She brought it upon herself." Liara stated almost like it was certain, a fact even.

Tyler sighed and bent down, his right knee resting on the cool metal of the floor, his eyes were level with hers "Don't pretend it doesn't bother you." He said, "She was your mother."

"She was…but she was not. I prefer to remember Benezia as she used to be before she was corrupted by Sovereign's power."

Tyler sighed and took Liara's hands in his, he knew simple mourning reason wasn't going to get through to Liara, so maybe something else would "The best parts of your mother lives on in you; her determination, her intelligence, her strength."

"That is kind of you to say. I appreciate your concern, but I am fine." Liara stated again, again, the tone in her voice was mismatched by what she wanted to say "I appreciate your concern, but I am fine. Benezia chose her path, just as I have chosen mine. I am with you until the end Shepard."

Tyler nodded, he wasn't going to break through to her, that much was clear "Liara, I know what is like to lose a parent at such an early age. You don't have to put a wall up around me."

"I am not putting a wall up!" Liara said surprisingly "I don't even know how to build one."

"It's just an expression Liara. What I mean is that you don't have to act like it doesn't bother you around me. When my whole family died on Mindoir…I had no one there to help me get through it, well, not at first. When Captain Anderson found me on the colony, he just listened. He listened to me talk about what had happened, how my parents died trying to protect me and my siblings…and he listened to all of it, at the end, all he told me was 'I will always be there for you.'" Tyler removed his one hand from hers and gently lifted her chin so they met eyes again "Liara, I will always be there for you. No matter what."

It was in that moment that she flung her arms around Tyler and buried her face in his shoulder and cried, cried harder than she had before he came in. He finally broke her wall down. Now she would have the opportunity to grieve and finally let everything she was feeling out.

"I've studied Protheans my entire life. If I had been shown the beacon on Thessia earlier…"

"You would have needed Shepard's cipher to comprehend it." EDI said over the comm.

Liara was stretched out on her bed, data pads placed in front of her, the monitors from her computer wall not even moving to her presence, as he entered her room, Tyler could see the monitors were shut down, even Glyph wasn't active.

"I still could have learned from it!" she shouted "Instead, my mother hid the galaxy's most important archaeological find from me. It must have been such a joke to her when I became a Prothean researcher."

"The penalties for withholding Prothean technology are among the harshest in Council space." EDI tried to reason "Your mother's motives may have been to shield you."

"Perhaps…thank you EDI…. I hadn't considered that." When the comm line went off, she finally looked up at Tyler "Tyler…I…how did this happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"My entire civilization, the asari's history…the Protheans made it a lie all along…And I abandoned my people to hunt for the Catalyst." Her voice was barely above a whisper, it was only loud enough for Tyler to hear.

"You'd never do that Liara, and you know it." Tyler reiterated.

"They're dying by the millions!" She cried, Tyler could see the tears flowing down her cheeks "I told those people on Thessia, we'd save them! How many Asari died, because I asked for their help!?"

Tyler placed a hand on her thigh "None."

"Tyler that isn't true and you know it."

"Liara, you've been warning your people for four years." Tyler walked away from her and approached her computer, he quickly turned it on and began to pull up reports that were flowing in from the Shadow Broker agents she had in the field, those who were providing survivor accounts from the ground assault, frigates that needed rerouting "There isn't anything you should feel guilty about. If we move fast enough, the Asari will have a chance to survive this. To start again, we've lost Thessia, but your people are still in this."

He clicked for awhile and then felt her presence stand beside him "Please, don't beat yourself up Liara. I can't stand to see you like this."

"I know." She said softly "Is this how you felt after Mindoir?"

"Yes." He replied, "I was lost for so long, sure, Anderson was there, but it was enough to close the wound temporarily." He looked at her, turned away from the computer and just wrapped his arms around her waist, like he did when they had reunited on the Normandy six months ago, a hand moved away from her waist and gently wiped her tears away from her blue cheeks "You helped me finally heal and find what I was missing in my life."

"Tyler…I don't deserve such praise."

"Yes you do. I meant what I said after Benezia died, the best parts of her live on in you. And you've taken them to a level that I know she would be proud of. I know I am. Every single day."

She smiled at that, gently leaned up and pecked him on the cheek "I love you."

"I love you too."

She gently made him let go and took over at the computer "I'll do what I can for the refugees, that's something I can do for them, something I can do to help."

"You always think of something Liara."

She smiled again at him and then turned to face him "I still need some time Tyler but thank you. You…don't know how much I needed you here."

Shepard nodded and walked to the door "I will always be there for you Liara. No matter what."