So, I'll admit that I clearly have a problem. Why else would I meddle in a story that was officially done many years ago? What started as a bit of tinkering snowballed into a full-on passion project that I kept returning to over the course of several months. I don't know if this will be well received or seen as blasphemous (or most likely just ignored as Mass Effect is quite old now and interest has waned), but at the end of the day this is my story so I will do what I want to do.

So, yes, you read the title right. This is a second edition of "All Things Pass." Why? Because as I reread all of these stories, this one stood out as far weaker than its progeny. This isn't too surprising. Although I was certainly no stranger to writing in general at the time of that story, I was a stranger to fanfiction. There were plenty of things about the genre that I was unsure about like how much should one meddle with the source material, how much completely new material is acceptable, and how best should one structure a story when your audience already knows other parts of the story. I learned these things as time progressed; but looking back over "All Things Pass," it is clear that I hindered my own creative freedom in my ignorance. In particular, I was extremely hesitant about deviating too far from the source material in the beginning, which is an amateur mistake. I freely admit that I didn't show off the things I am best at in the original version. This story could be so much more. And I intend to do it justice.

What do I mean by second edition? How much is going to change? First, this is not a reprint of the original by any means. The basic plot of the story will not change – I am not setting out to create continuity problems (other than those that already exist, which I will confess to later) – however, chapters have been rewritten from the ground up with the goal of fleshing out these characters at this beginning stage of their journeys and just writing a better story in general. There are rewrites of chapters from the original that are inspired by the preceding content, but not bound by it. Then there are completely new chapters with brand new content. Additionally, while the basic plot will not change, I have changed the order of certain plot points for reasons that will become apparent later. Second, I am not going to delete the first edition, so if you are of the opinion that what I am doing is sacrilegious that's fine; just don't read this story. The first edition will still exist, and you can go back and reread that to your heart's content if you feel inclined. Finally, the focus of this story is the actual progression of Shepard and Liara's relationship. My primary issue with the first edition is that the shift in their relationship happens abruptly. This reflected, intentionally, how it happens in the games, but as a seasoned fanfiction writer I now feel less beholden to the games than I did in the beginning. I want to show a more natural evolution to their relationship and explore why these two would gravitate toward one another.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that this isn't some weird attempt to publish the same story twice. Hell, I am fairly certain that the overall interest in Mass Effect fanfiction has greatly waned over all these years, and this story may languish in relative obscurity. That's fine. This definitely is a work of love rather than a vanity project. When I started, I didn't even know whether I would actually want to publish it. I wrote this first and foremost for myself, to prove to myself what this story should have been from the beginning. But I have decided to share it on the off chance than anyone else sees this and wants to take this journey with me one more time. For a long time, I have been secretly embarrassed by the first edition because I don't think it reflects that well on my skill. I have put a lot of work into this rewrite and there is so much new here that even if you've read the first edition of "All Things Pass" fifty times, this isn't going to feel like a rehash. There will be familiar story beats mixed in with the new, but the writing will be stronger and less unsure of itself because I am now much more proficient at this particular genre of storytelling.

Also, it occurs to me that thus far I have assumed that only fans of the original "All Things Pass" would be reading this, but there's a chance someone new stumbles across this. If that's the case, then welcome. If this turns out to be your cup of tea, then you are in for a treat because there's plenty more after this and it's already done so you don't have to deal with my pain in the ass tendencies to overthink every chapter and therefore write slowly. If anyone new does read this, I would be curious to know.

I know this is a long introduction, but one last thing. As always, my author's notes are just that: optional forewords I use to share my thoughts on the chapters, the games, or reveal things about my writing process that I think others might find interesting. If that's not your thing, feel free to skip. I'm just the type of person who loves forewords – I always read them, and I even think about certain books in terms of how much I enjoyed their forewords. I will definitely be revealing some… let's call them secrets, for lack of a better word, that I have not shared in the past. Nothing earth-shattering, but just some revelations that may be of interest to long-time readers. Anyway, hope you enjoy this second edition of "All Things Pass."

The Professional

The Normandy's drive core pulsed a bright white-blue at the back of the engineering deck. Standing back by the doors, afraid of venturing forward and getting in the way of the crew, Liara stared at the gigantic apparatus. It had been just a few decades since humans had arrived on the galactic scene, but already they appeared to be making great technologic strides. Liara could easily remember a time without humans; in fact, the majority of her life had been spent without the Council races or humans even knowing the other existed. But in twenty-six short years, the newcomers had already established themselves as one of the dominant military forces in the galaxy, and they had adamantly demanded that their voices be heard. Looking at the Normandy's drive core, Liara realized that she hadn't fully appreciated just how far along the humans had come. They were mastering and building upon the technology of the other species so quickly. Would there be any limit to their ambition? Their ability to adapt at such an unrelenting pace?

Even in the decades since humans first arrived, Liara had barely interacted with any. There weren't a lot of human experts on the protheans, and any interest was limited to what technological advancements could be mined to aid in the development of their society. Humanity seemed far too focused on the present and future to care about the ancient past. Liara suspected that one of their kind could never understand someone like herself who was so preoccupied with history that she often ignored everything else.

But lately, it certainly felt as if the present had slapped Liara hard in the face as punishment for all her years disregarding it. For years she had distanced herself from the rest of civilization and, in particular, her mother. But while she had wanted to be left alone to dig in the dirt, to study and think and find some kind of answers to questions she couldn't quite formulate in her mind, her mother had gone down a dark path and taken Goddess only knew how many of her followers with her. Liara still couldn't wrap her brain around it. Whatever tension there was between herself and Benezia, she never would have imagined that her mother would ally herself with a man who wished the destruction of another alien species or who would unleash geth upon innocent people. It wasn't the woman she had known. Benezia, for all her faults, had never been xenophobic or prone to violence. And although Liara hadn't spoken to her mother in decades, she couldn't believe that the woman who had raised her could have changed so much.

When the humans first told Liara about Saren and Benezia and the attack on Eden Prime, she hadn't fully believed them. Absolutely, she was grateful for their rescue on Therum, and she had seen the geth and heard the krogan battlemaster say that Saren had sent them to capture her. But, in her mind, this was all some sort of misunderstanding. She wasn't important. Her mother wouldn't work with a man like Saren. It all had to be some terrible mistake.

And even though Liara had not voiced her doubts – too afraid that her rescuers might become her captors – the commander of the ship had seen to it that Liara was given access to every scrap of evidence they had collected to date. Navigator Pressly had not seemed pleased when he informed her that the commander had ordered him to set her up with a terminal and access sufficient to open those particular files. Liara was also surprised by the commander's transparency, but grateful. Because of it, she had been able to examine the evidence with her own eyes and reach her own conclusions. She'd watched video footage from Eden Prime, read mission reports, listened to the audio recording of her mother and Saren, listened to and seen a transcript of the meetings with the Council, and seen intelligence reports foreshadowing that Saren would seek her out on Therum. And although the evidence often felt like a punch to the gut, especially the audio recording with her mother's voice, it told her that the humans had been telling the truth. Saren had gone rogue and was using the geth to attack human colonies and Benezia was helping him.

And now Liara felt stuck – unable to return to the past she loved but also unable to see what the future could possibly hold. She couldn't leave the humans or their ship. Saren wanted to capture her, for whatever reason, so Liara needed these people to keep her safe. And from the humans' perspective, if Saren wanted her, then they didn't want him to have her. It was an uneasy alliance that Liara was sure neither of them wanted, but it was nonetheless forced upon them both.

Still, it was clear that the humans mostly did not trust her. She was the daughter of the enemy after all. They hadn't ruled out the possibility that she was in league with Benezia and waiting for her moment to strike. Although Liara now had the benefit of examining the evidence and seeing that the humans' intentions were sincere, they did not have the same reassurance from her. It had been a little over two days since she had boarded the ship, but the entire time she had felt their eyes on her, suspicious and distrustful. She didn't blame them, but it was still uncomfortable.

"Dr. T'Soni?" came a surprised voice from behind her. Liara spun to see Commander Shepard standing in the doorway, head tilted and an inquisitive look on her face. The human was roughly the same height as Liara, with black hair pulled back into a professional bun. She had a light complexion and striking, blue-violet eyes that seemed to stare straight through Liara. A vertical scar slashed through her right eyebrow, and Liara had noticed another crescent moon on the back of her right hand and a burn scar on her left tricep. She wore simple, military fatigues, but somehow made it feel like she was dressed in the most proper, professional way. Liara had felt intimidated by her the moment she met her. She seemed like a woman who knew exactly who she was, always cloaked in the power of her own, unshakeable confidence. There was something about the commander that seemed untouchable.

"Oh, Commander Shepard," she said, feeling flustered. "How are you?" Then, because she felt like her presence down on the engineering deck needed some kind of explanation, she added, "I was just taking a tour of your ship. I hope that was alright?" Fear clutched at Liara's heart as she realized that she might have made a mistake by wandering around the ship. This was a military vessel, not a luxury cruise. It would be all too easy to conclude that she was spying for Benezia.

But Shepard just smiled and answered, "I'm fine. And that's no problem at all. If I was a better hostess, I would have offered you a tour, but I never seem to have enough time these days."

Liara studied the commander's face, searching for any kind of masked suspicion. Although the majority of the human crew had been open about their distrust, Shepard had not shown the same feelings. Liara wasn't good at reading people, so it was possible that the commander was hiding her true sentiments, but so far, she hadn't seen any indication that Shepard didn't trust her. In fact, the woman had been polite and even kind, inquiring about Liara's wellbeing after what she had been through on Therum and making sure she was settling in.

"This is my favorite part of the ship," Shepard continued. "I've served on a lot of ships, but I've never seen anything like this."

Liara grew suddenly nervous as she realized that the commander was attempting to engage her in polite conversation. She had never been good at small talk, or first impressions for that matter. Although technically her first impression with Shepard had already been a disaster: trapped in a stasis field as a result of her own blunder, pleading with the other woman to save her. The commander had come out of their first meeting looking like a hero and Liara had probably looked like a fool. The only real comfort was that Shepard's opinion of her probably couldn't get any lower than it already was.

"It is very impressive," Liara agreed. "I was just thinking that humanity has come a long way if it can make a drive core like this." She winced at her own words as soon as they were out of her mouth. That sounded too much like a spy – evaluating what humans were capable of doing and making mental notes of it. It also probably sounded a bit condescending. Liara was aware that others often thought of the asari as elitist.

But Shepard didn't appear perturbed. "Actually, we can't take full credit. The Normandy is a joint design of the Alliance and the turian hierarchy. A lot of the innovations are the result of us working together to try new things."

"I did not know that," Liara admitted, showing her surprise. "I thought that humans and turians did not like one another after the Relay 314 Incident."

Shepard exhaled loudly through her nose and shook her head, seeming slightly amused. "That depends on who you talk to, honestly. Plenty of people are ready to move on and incorporate into galactic society, and let the past stay in the past. But there are still people who are bitter about how our first alien encounter went. For humans, we can usually move past something within a human lifetime if we want to. I'm sure by asari standards our grudges probably seem short-lived. Although, as a bit of advice, calling it the Relay 314 Incident might be a little touchy amongst the crew. Humans call it the First Contact War."

Liara tilted her head in confusion. "But it was only first contact for humans."

Shepard chuckled and a coy smile played at the corners of her lips. "Unfortunately, we're a bit egocentric sometimes."

There was a moment of silence as Liara wasn't sure how to keep the conversation going. She wanted to continue though, as it was nice to talk to someone after so much solitude, and Shepard, despite her authoritative air, felt easy to talk to. Yet, even though Shepard had shown humor towards her own species, Liara did not want to say something to inadvertently offend the human.

Luckily, the commander picked up the slack again by saying, "So, do you want to guess how long the Normandy can run without giving away anything that might be picked up on scanners?"

"I have no idea," Liara admitted.

"Three hours," Shepard answered, pride in her voice. "Isn't that amazing? The Normandy can operate at normal capacity for three hours without venting any radiation. It can even drift for several days without giving away its position. Tali has already become an expert on the subject, and she's been telling me all about it. It's called the IES stealth system, or Internal Emission Sink. The heat generated by the engine is stored in lithium heat sinks which..."

As Shepard went on excitedly about the workings of the drive core, Liara found herself once again staring at the commander. Shepard's hands moved about enthusiastically as she explained more and more of the technical jargon. It seemed strange to see the commander so casual and animated about something. Although Liara had not known the other woman long, she had observed enough to know that Shepard carried herself in a professional manner. She could be amiable while still giving nothing of herself away. On the previous occasions when Liara had spoken to Shepard, she always got the distinct impression that the commander had learned a good deal about her while she learned nothing in return. Despite the commander's friendliness, it was difficult to get past that initial perfect image she projected.

But now, Liara saw something of the woman beneath that professional mask. It was clear that Shepard found the science behind the drive core fascinating, and she was equally enthused about its practical applications. That probably wasn't too surprising for someone who lived her life aboard warships, but the level of detail with which Shepard went into the topic surprised her. She is very smart, Liara realized. It wasn't that Liara had assumed the commander would be dumb, but she hadn't expected someone who fought battles for a living to be so curious and knowledge-seeking. Clearly, Shepard didn't need to know all of this to command the ship, but she'd either found it interesting or useful or both, and had absorbed as much as she could. She also hadn't been satisfied with a cursory knowledge of the subject; she'd set out to fully understand.

Liara was so wrapped up in her own thoughts, that when Shepard let out a soft laugh, it abruptly brought her back to the present. "If I'm boring you, you can just say so."

The asari jumped slightly at being called out for her poor manners, and touched her forehead in an embarrassed way. Her face felt suddenly hot. "Oh, I am sorry," she said quickly. "You were not boring me. Really. I just..." She trailed off nervously. She didn't want to admit to the commander that she had been reevaluating her impressions of her.

But Shepard just laughed and said, "Don't worry. I was rambling. When I get started on something I find interesting, I tend to get carried away. People have often told me it's not my most charming quality."

"I completely understand," Liara said quickly. "If I start talking about the protheans, I tend to get caught up and before I know it whoever I am talking to gets a glazed-over look in their eye. I am generally not someone people go to for conversation."

Shepard eyed Liara thoughtfully before saying, "Actually, I would be interested to hear about the protheans sometime."

Liara touched her forehead nervously again while saying, "Oh, no, really, it is probably quite boring. You have better things to do than listen to me ramble." Liara was sure that the commander was just being polite. She no doubt had many more pressing things on her mind than a desire to learn about a dead civilization.

But Shepard just smiled. "I admit I am a bit ignorant when it comes to the protheans, but I love history and I always enjoy learning something new. And who better to learn from than someone who is both an expert and excited about the subject? I prefer it, honestly. It's better when people are amorous."

There was momentary silence as Liara tried to process what she had heard. She furrowed her brow in confusion and tilted her head slightly as she tried to make sense of Shepard's last sentence. The sudden use of the word "amorous" felt out of place in context. The commander seemed to notice the confused expression on Liara's face because she also tilted her head and stared at Liara. They looked at one another, both attempting to figure out what the other was thinking. Then, Shepard's eyes widened, and she asked, "Did that just get translated in a weird way?"

Liara felt her cheeks burn hot at the sudden realization. Her translator had misconstrued whatever word Shepard had used and replaced it with a more suggestive one. "Oh, yes, of course. I am so sorry, Commander. I have not been around humans in so long and I did not think to update my translation software. I am sure my current version is very out of date."

"Phew." Shepard pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead. "I was afraid I had said something offensive." Then she smiled and added, "Well, I guess I did, in a way. Out of curiosity, what did your translator think I said?"

Liara felt sure that if she could turn a darker shade of blue, then she would. "It did not make any sense. It is not important."

Shepard appeared more intrigued by Liara's embarrassment. "That bad, huh? Now you have to tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone else."

The very thought of repeating the mistranslation to the commander made Liara break out in a cold sweat. She already feared that the other woman thought she was a fool who couldn't take care of herself and who lacked basic social skills. She didn't want to add to her bad impression by admitting that her translator had twisted Shepard's words into something lewd. "I cannot say it," she mumbled.

To Liara's surprise, Shepard's eyes seemed to light up with interest and excitement. That sharp intelligence that Liara had noticed before shone through mixed with pure amusement. This was the most emotion Liara had seen from Shepard yet. The aloof, professional air that she maintained fell away all at once.

"This is going to keep me awake if I don't figure it out," she laughed. "At least let me guess." She thought for a moment, turning the puzzle over in her mind, and then asked, "Did the translator take the sexual meaning of a word I used instead of the regular meaning?"

Liara was mortified that Shepard had gotten it so fast. Although, her own embarrassment was probably a dead giveaway. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Liara said, "Yes. The last thing you said made it sound as if… as if you preferred when people were sexually aroused by a subject." She said the last part quickly and felt her face flush again.

Shepard laughed loudly, clutching her side. She seemed to have a hard time catching her breath from laughing so hard. Her obvious amusement at the miscommunication actually made Liara feel less embarrassed. Shepard clearly wasn't offended, and Liara rather liked hearing her laugh. There was no malice in it, only mirth.

Once Shepard had gained control of herself again, she said, "I am so glad we cleared that up. Imagine if you had just assumed I was very strange and way too forward. I don't think I ever would have lived that down."

Before she could say more, there was a small beep from Shepard's omni-tool. The commander glanced at it and all at once her demeanor shifted. Her lighthearted amusement receded, and her attitude shifted back to her usual, professional default. She was no longer a woman at the mercy of a translation error, but instead she was the commander in full control of everything around her. It surprised Liara how much she regretted the change. She'd found herself enjoying the conversation, even if she had been mortified for parts of it. Shepard was easy to talk to and she had seen a glimpse of someone else beneath the professional veneer. And now that she had seen it, the archeologist in Liara wanted to uncover the truth – to bring that other side of Shepard into the light for closer inspection.

"I need to get back to my duties," Shepard said. "But it was nice speaking with you, Dr. T'Soni."

"You can call me Liara."

Shepard smiled and nodded. "Ok, then, Liara. I'll answer to just about anything, honestly, but if you want to call me just Shepard, that'd be great."