So, because the last one was all depressing and stuff, this one I tried to add a bit of spice and humor. It's been oddly nice, coming back to writing and feeling comfortable about it. I hope you all enjoy this one
Chapter 30
"Oh come on, Li, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Please let me in?" Shepard practically pleaded outside of the storage room door. She couldn't help but find the irony as she leaned her head against the door. "Liara?" she really didn't expect an answer. It was as Garrus had predicted, Shepard had been thrown in the dog house. Shepard leaned her side into the door as she truly had felt badly for the whole thing. It hadn't even been intentional, more... desperate measures. Fortunately for them all it had paid off, but apparently at a cost.
After returning from a mission to investigate a distress call, Liara had pretty much stormed off to their room without a backwards glance. Shepard hadn't even realized Liara had gotten off the mako and headed straight for the elevator. Until it was too late, that is. So she never stood a chance, she was locked out. Shepard sighed as she spun around and leaned her back on the door next. She herself hadn't even gotten out of her armor yet either. She only had enough time to dump her weapons on poor Ash, who had just glared at her, before bolting for the elevator herself.
"What happened?" Chakwas asked from her desk. Shepard's cheeks flushed some, not having fully realized she had an audience. Shepard rubbed her hand over her face. It had only been a few days since they had finished their business in the Armstrong Nebula. Shepard had just started to feel a little more clear headed again, and then blew it with the asari.
Before Shepard could even try to figure out where to begin, Tali came marching into the med bay. Shepard looked towards her engineer as she all but shoved Shepard aside once she reached the door. She then knocked on the door, "Liara, it's me." She announced all while Shepard stood there, eyes wide, looking the definition of deer in headlights. Finally the door unlocked and opened.
But before Nicole had any chance to pounce on the opportunity, the quarian's head snapped in Shepard's direction, stopping her in her tracks. Tali's head had whipped around so fast Nicole could feel the daggers emanating from the young woman before her. She was almost grateful she couldn't see the likely glare on Tali's face behind her mask. "You are a bosh'tet sometimes, Shepard." She stated flatly, and with such agitation, Shepard felt taken aback.
Before the mercenary could process what had happened, Tali vanished into the storage room, door sliding shut before locking again. "Tali, wait!" Shepard tried to shift into gear but knew it was too late as she ruffled her red hair in frustration. Chakwas looked to the younger woman, the smirk on her face was amused, but Chakwas perked a brow expectantly. Shepard muttered to herself before turning and heading towards the med bay doors. "Let me get my armor off." she then grumbled at the doctor before walking out of the med bay.
"So I hear you managed to upset Liara." Garrus smirked as he leaned against the lockers next to Shepard's. She tossed her chest plate into the locker with frustration as it made an almighty clatter. Everyone in the cargo bay immediately halted whatever they were doing and looked towards Shepard. Garrus's mandibles twitched, watching with amusement.
Shepard looked to the others sheepishly and shrugged. "Sorry, it... slipped." She muttered before beginning to stow away the rest of her armor with far less aggression. She could almost feel the glare Ashley still had. It was boring a hole in her back. She sighed in defeat as she closed the locker before finally looking at the turian, shrugging. "I swear I didn't mean to." Shepard then said, sounding at a loss. She tried to find the words, but in all honesty had felt so flustered by the situation, she was coming up short. "Just... things happened." Shepard muttered at the end, as though even she hadn't bought the excuse.
Garrus pushed away from the lockers as he patted Shepard firmly on the shoulder. "Let her cool off, she'll come around. She's crazy about you, Shepard." He paused for effect, "For whatever reason." He smirked as Shepard gave him only a slight glare. "You'll have to fill me in later, I need to help fix the mess you made of the mako. Again." Garrus then said before he walked off towards the rather banged up vehicle, smudged with dirt and grime.
Shepard was sure to hear about that mess from Anderson too. He was not too happy about the damage to the mako back on Virmire. In her defense, this time, they were there to assist a distress call. She had no idea the geth were planning a surprise party. She marched back to the elevator, opting to not even look Ashley in the eyes out of guilt.
As she thought on the mako situation she couldn't help but feel her heart sink with dread. She may not be military, but even she felt slightly intimidated by the thought of Anderson angry. He was going to have her ass for this one, and she knew he wouldn't care that she had been caught off guard. In truth she probably deserved it, for wrecking the thing twice now.
After she'd reached the crew deck she rounded the corner and to the mess hall, where she saw Chakwas sitting and waiting. With two mugs of steaming hot coffee no less. Shepard couldn't help but wish it had been the asari waiting for her instead. As Shepard sat across from the doctor, she reached for her mug, lifting it in thanks. "From the top." Chakwas said with a smile, as though they were about to just gossip about something.
Shepard muttered to herself before taking a careful sip of her coffee. At this point Chakwas felt more like a busy-body more than someone to talk to. She sighed as she tried to gather her thoughts, looking towards the med bay. She wondered just how annoyed Tali was going to be with her whenever she re-emerged. It was bad enough that Liara and Ashley were upset with her.
She couldn't help but wonder what she had gotten herself into.
"From the top, right..." Shepard said as she finally looked back to the good doctor. She frowned to herself wondering what Chakwas will think of the situation.
In the little storage room, Liara had managed to set her light armor aside, for when she was ready to take it back down to her locker. Currently she sat on her bed, wearing a pair of gym shirts and a tank top. She found it easier to use as underwear when wearing her armor. "What happened?" Tali asked gently, sitting from across the room in the chair at the desk.
Liara fussed with her shirt a little as she looked down, chewing her lip. "It is... I had assumed Virmire was the worse of Nicole's driving." She started, the frustration evident in her tone. She had not expected it to be so much worse than Virmire. "So when we were ambushed by the geth, I did not entirely expect what had happened to... Well, happen." Liara continued.
Tali shifted in her chair, and Liara looked up and could tell Tali knew exactly what Liara was talking about. "Oh, keelah." She said with both surprise and sympathy. Tali knew of how insane of a driver Shepard was. She had experienced it herself a few times. In truth, Tali was surprised Shepard would be that reckless with Liara present.
"What did that bosh'tet do this time?" Tali asked in her agitation towards the human. Liara couldn't help but frown. She would be lying if she said it wasn't because she found herself agreeing with Tali's insult. She had felt conflicted with that concept, of wanting to agree with an insult, but she supposed there were special circumstances to be had.
In all honesty, Liara had asked for Tali because she didn't know who else to talk to about the whole thing. But she needed someone else's perspective. Being in a romantic relationship with someone was new to the asari. She did not entirely know how romantic relationships fully functioned. Not only that, but she was used to being on her own, so she was already socially awkward on top of it.
She knew Tali had far more perspective on such matters than she. Tali's life was constantly spent around people, thus she had more knowledge and experience. It was just part of quarian culture, given their circumstances. And she trusted the young quarian. She had been a friend after all. Next to Shepard, Tali was easily the second person Liara preferred. It was just far easier to be in the engineer's company than Garrus's, let alone Wrex's. Liara internally shuddered at the idea of trying to have this discussion with a krogan battle master.
"It is not like we were expecting the geth, I will not fault her for that. It is just... How eccentric she gets piloting that... vehicle (death trap)." Liara said rather bluntly, feeling the agitation bubbling up again. Goddess, she had certainly felt a strong attachment to Nicole Shepard, but she was never allowing that infuriating human in the driver's seat again either. At least not while she was in the vehicle.
[Earlier]
Everything had been fairly routine. Liara could not stress this enough. Everything had been fairly routine. The Normandy had dropped the mako off with the ground team inside, Shepard driving, despite Ashley's protest about protocol. Liara knew Shepard had a certain level of charm, but who knew pleading and pouting would make an Alliance marine buckle and give in. But oh, how Nicole's face lit up with a bright smile and an almost a child like excitement.
It had, however, been going smoothly for the moment. Ashley had found it handy in the end. Sitting in the front passenger seat, she had been coordinating with the Normandy about possible survivors and medical procedures, etc. Liara had been sitting in the back, strapped into her seat. Wrex had, of course, taken the guns. Liara would not have been surprised if that was the only reason Wrex had come along. In case he got to shoot things with a big gun.
Liara had been fairly content just sitting in her seat observing everyone at work. She had only come along to be extra help should they need it.
And then it had all gone wrong very quickly. It turned out it had been a geth trap all along, and had gotten the better of Shepard when several flying drones had popped up out of nowhere, all of which began firing rockets at the mako.
Now, Liara would come to Nicole's defense, she only had seconds to react. She only really had one option to begin with, outside of sitting there hoping the mako's shields and armor can withstand the impact. But it had not gone as intended, which had lead to the current issue.
Shepard had slammed her hand down on the thruster controls, cussing in her surprise as the vehicle lurched forward with such force, Liara had to cling to whatever she could to keep herself from being tossed around too badly. This, she could forgive. However, there had been rough terrain ahead of them. In the form of a giant heavy stone jutting out of the ground that had a gentle slope upwards.
Ashley had been yelling her head off in both fear and absolute anger, Wrex had been laughing his hump off, and Liara... Well, Liara had never felt more terrified in her life. As fate would have it, the thrusters were still burning as Shepard drove up the sloped rock and had launched the vehicle into the air. Shepard and Wrex were the only two who seemed to be enjoying themselves, while Liara and Ashley had probably just bonded in their mutual displeasure over the whole thing.
Liara might have even forgiven being launched in the air and having to endure a fairly rough landing, all while Wrex was going crazy on the guns. The vehicle bounced and jerked and spun out a bit at one point. But when the whole thing was over, she just sat in the back hand over her chest, her poor heart pumping away wildly in her rib cage.
"That was the best stunt yet, kid!" Wrex hollered in his excitement. The human turned in her seat and had given the krogan a toothy grin, clearly happy to be complimented for such an insane move. And of course who would encourage such behavior but Wrex? That krogan was just as insane as Shepard, as far as Liara was concerned. If not a bit more so.
"Ten out of ten, would recommend." Shepard joked as she finally looked back to Liara. Liara was about to disagree when Shepard flashed her that smile of hers at the asari. Normally Liara's stomach would do all sorts of things at that charming smile Nicole was so flawless at. But she only looked at the human in pure bewilderment instead. "Sorry." Shepard said to Liara with a half hearted shrug, like she had just told a bad joke.
Liara frowned as she hadn't been entirely sure what she was feeling in the moment. Clearly, by the look on Chielf Williams' face as they regarded each other, she should definitely not be happy. And she really wasn't. She just wasn't sure what the emotions she felt meant. Then Nicole had continued on as though it were business as usual. And all Liara could do was sit in her seat trying to process what had just happened.
[Present – Mess Hall]
Judging by the look on Chakwas's face, Shepard was pretty sure she really had screwed up. "Shepard, she's going to need some time to calm down and sort out however she might be feeling." the doctor said, perhaps a little too professionally. Nicole frowned as she wrapped both hands around her mug, to keep herself from fidgeting. "But, at a guess, she's hurt you didn't exactly check in with her further."
Shepard sighed as she looked down at the half drank contents of her mug. "If I'm to be honest, Doctor Chakwas... I didn't think things through, I'm not used to being... in a relationship." Chakwas reached over, gripping Shepard's forearm and giving it an assuring squeeze. The smile on her face had said that everything would be alright in the end.
Shepard sure had hoped so, because giving up the asari would hurt in ways she didn't want to admit to.
"Give her time. She will come to you when she's ready. And then make sure you have a damned good apology, because you might be sleeping in the cargo bay for a little while." Chakwas sagely advised. She then stood up, giving Shepard a firm motherly look. The merc flushed as she fidgeted in her seat. Chakwas then grabbed her own mug and heading back to the med bay as though her job here was done.
And Shepard sat in the mess hall for the next minute or two, deep in thought over the whole situation, not to mentioned properly scolded. Before she was startled out of her thoughts, "Shepard, step into my quarters." Anderson hollered as he started a quick step towards his personal cabin from the stairway, not even giving her a first, let alone second glance.
Shepard looked up at the ceiling. She had managed to piss off half the ship at this point, she was sure. She had almost wanted to give the Captain a bit of grief, but had firmly decided against it when he finally did look her way. If looks could kill she would be dead on the spot. "I'm waiting, Shepard." He said impatiently as she quickly hopped out of her seat and at least had the decency to look ashamed as she half trotted over to the man as he held his hand out towards the door.
She bowed her head and shoved her hands in her pockets as she just did as she was expected.
It had been several hours since the incident back on Metgos, the plane the distress call had come from. Liara had sat in the storage room all day trying to process everything. Tali had told Liara she had a right to be agitated, but had equally told Liara that Shepard had likely just been an, as she called it, "air head". Chakwas had said something similarly when Liara had finally snuck out of the room to grab something to drink.
She had been grateful, to the young quarian and doctor. She wasn't entirely sure if the things she had been feeling were the wrong things. But she had felt assured that she was not only in the right to feel hurt, but allowed to feel agitated. But she was also told not to go too hard on the mercenary, as it was likely an honest mistake. Shepard was not always the best at judging social situations herself at times. This appeared to be one of them.
Liara had been exhausted after the events of the day, and honestly she had been half tempted to just crawl into bed and let the human wonder for the night. It was a little odd, feeling a slight bit of spitefulness spike within her. But when she looked towards the bed she had shared with Shepard, she knew she would rather curl up with Nicole a bit agitated still, than sleep alone. She had grown too used to falling asleep in the human's arms most nights.
Liara sighed as she decided it was finally time to seek out Nicole and talk with her. Her anger had mostly left her now, until all she felt was a bit hurt and agitated. She felt confident she could face Shepard with an at least mostly clear head.
When she stepped out into the med bay, it was empty and dimly lit. Signs that Chakwas' shift was over. It had been later than Liara had assumed, and the night shift had probably just begun. When she had found the mess hall in a similar state, dimly lit and lacking Shepard, Liara had found herself in the cargo bay.
Sure enough, there was the mercenary, looking exhausted as she shook hands with Ashley. The Chief looked annoyed still, but at least she did not look like she was ready to strangle the mercenary anymore. It is likely that Shepard had spent the day making amends to whomever it was appropriate to. When Liara finally took in the state of the mako, she had rightly guessed that Captain Anderson was part of that short list of people.
When Shepard gave the marine a small, hopeful smile Liara had assumed that Nicole had at least patched things over for the time being. Then Nicole had turned and spotted Liara standing just outside of the elevator. The asari had changed into her scientific uniform since the incident on Metgos, and her posture looked unsure. She held herself with her arms, looking at Shepard with a look of mixed feelings.
She seemingly excused herself as she gave the asari a sheepish look as she crossed the cargo bay, to where Liara stood, looking more and more cautious the closer she got. Shepard stopped in front of the asari, at a respectful distance, shoving her hands into her cargo pants. "I'm sorry, Liara, I... I wasn't thinking. I promise you, I didn't mean to upset you." Shepard started, her tone unsure, quiet, her eyes looking pleadingly at Liara.
Liara sighed some, as if letting the tension in her body out, if only slightly. "I was hurt, Nicole. You did this insane maneuver, I will give you that there was not a lot of time for finesse, I just..." Liara began, her brows furrowed as she tried to think. She watched Shepard as well, to gauge the situation. The mercenary seemed to be listening to every word that Liara spoke, which was a relief within itself.
It wasn't that Liara was afraid Shepard would react badly, or not listen at all. She had just never experienced such emotions until today, and she still wasn't sure how to properly process them. So it was at least relieving that the woman in front of her was listening. They would feel their way through this together. "I was hurt because I felt like you didn't even care how I might have felt in the situation." Liara muttered quietly. Liara looked away. "That it was all just a game, and not some insane stunt that could have ended poorly."
Shepard frowned, her heart sinking as she took a hesitant half step forward, as if silently asking for permission to enter the asari's space. Liara lowered her arms after a moment before she stepped into Shepard's open arms, feeling the human embrace her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Li... I promise I care. I care a great deal. Of course I do, you're... You're so important to me." Shepard muttered quietly, her voice filled with regret for what she had done, but also sincerity that she did care. Nicole placed a light on the asari's temple It was really all Liara had to hear, to know that Shepard had just made an error in judgment.
Liara let her hands rest on the human's shoulders s as they looked each other in the eyes. "I promise, I'll never do anything that crazy again. Or at least, I'll try not to, and definitely not without checking in after." Shepard said, her tone and expression serious enough that Liara had believed her.
Liara sighed as the slight rigidness Shepard felt in Liara finally melt away in her arms. Liara's hands slid up to either side of the merc's neck, blue eyes looking into emerald green, looking less hurt than she had moments ago. "You are infuriating, Nicole Shepard, and you are never allowed to drive with me in a vehicle ever again." Liara said firmly. Shepard then saw the slightest hints of a smile on Liara's lips.
Shepard's hands pressed against the prothean expert's lower back, pulling her in closer. "Yes ma'am." Shepard said with a genuine relieved smile. "Although, you may not have to worry about that one. Anderson kind of fired me from the driving position." Shepard then said. Liara's smile grew wider yet as she rolled her eyes and pulled Shepard down for a kiss, hanging her arms loosely around the human's shoulders.
Shepard held Liara firm against herself, humming into the kiss as she deepened it. She was just grateful that Liara had forgiven her for the most part. Sometimes Shepard felt like Liara was more than she ever deserved. But she dared not complain either, because losing the asari now would hurt more than Shepard would care to admit. She knew she was in deep when it came to Liara.
Their intimant moment had ended abruptly however as a voice rang out for all to hear. "Uhg, gross, get a room!" Ashley hollered from across the bay, though her tone humorous. Shepard and Liara parted, both flushing deeply at having been called out. Once again Shepard got to experience people staring in her direction today.
"We should probably get out of their way." Shepard suggested with a sheepish smile. Liara smiled more brightly than she had since morning, giving Shepard one last peck before untangling herself from the mercenary's arms. Shepard could feel Liara grabbing her hand instead, lacing their fingers together. Shepard smirked as Liara tugged her towards the elevator, before half turning as she followed the asari. She gave Ashly a mock salute with her free hand that smirk still plastered on her face before the doors slid shut.
