Chapter 3.
I do not remember these events happening to me, perhaps they are not mine, but Liara's.
Liara opened her eyes slowly, she was on a bed, the smell of antiseptic led her to believe that she was in a medical wing of hospital, but the slight vibrations told her otherwise, as if the whole place was moving, she was in a med bay on a ship. The light was dimmed, it was quiet, the med bay had sound insulation so the patients would not be disturbed.
Liara sat up and lowered her legs off the medical bed, she only now realized that she had a IV attached to her arm, as Liara considered removing the medical tape that was holding the needle in place she heard a voice: "Miss T'Soni, I am going to ask you to leave the needle in for a bit longer, you have not fully recovered from your exhaustion yet."
The voice startled Liara as she hadn't realized that somebody walked in while she was trying to get her bearings. She looked up and saw an elderly looking human female standing in front of her, wearing a medical uniform, she had her arms crossed as if Liara was a child that was in some sort of trouble, but she had a faint smile on her face indicating that Liara has not done anything wrong. Liara apologized and introduced herself sheepishly. The doctor laughed: "You didn't do anything wrong my dear, but as the doctor of this ship I am going to have to ask you to stay here a bit longer. After all I promised the Commander to take good care of you."
"Th-this is Shepard's ship?" Liara asked her voice was a bit trembling, the memories of their last encounter came rushing back, the geth attack, the krogan, the earthquake and Shepard's arms holding her. Liara waved her head as if trying to make the confusing thoughts go away.
"Yes you are on the Normandy and it is under his command. Are you alright miss T'Soni? Experiencing any discomfort? You have been suspended in that field for nearly three days without food or water." asked the doctor walking up and examining Liara with her medical omnitool.
"My apologies, it is nothing, I am alright, thank you. I was just remembering what happened umm... how long was I out?" Liara blurted out, stumbling over her words.
"Twenty two galactic standard hours now." said Doctor Chakwas, putting away her omnitool satisfied with the readings.
"That long?" Liara's eyes widened.
"To be honest I am surprised that you woke up when you did, I was sure you would have been out for at least a few more hours, I cannot believe the Commander would ask you to use biotics in the condition you were in!" the doctor shook her head.
"Please, doctor…" Liara inspected the doctor looking for a name tag,
"Chakwas" the doctor nodded.
"My apologies, doctor Chakwas, it was not Shepard's fault, it was I who suggested to use biotics." said Liara.
"Oh my, well I guess I owe the Commander an apology." She paused, "I Scolded him for bringing you to the Normandy unconscious, not to mention bleeding all over the Normandy." said the doctor watching Liara's reaction.
"Oh Goddess!" Liara's face went pale "Doctor Chakwas is he alright?".
"Oh he's fine, he has been up and running for a few hours now, in fact he came by not to long ago, he wanted to check up on you." said Doctor Chakwas.
Upon hearing the news Liara lit up brightly. "Thank the Goddess, I am glad Shepard is alright." she said trying to hide a smile.
"You can talk to the Commander after you rest, he will bring you up to speed on the situation, now please lie down and try to get a few more hours of sleep."
Liara laid back on the bed and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you doctor."
"No need to thank me miss T'Soni, its part of the job" she nodded and walked out of the bay, leaving Liara to rest.
Liara was standing in the mess hall, waiting in line for the food. She was deep in thoughts about the last couple of days since her rescue on Therum, they did not go by as she thought they would. She only had the chance to speak to Shepard once, and it was during the mission briefing with the rest of Shepard's squad mates, she was surprised at how diverse was his team. Nevertheless it brought her up to speed with the rest of them, since she decided to say on the ship, she had to know everything. The Normandy, prothean beacons, the Conduit, Saren, the geth and of course the Reapers. Liara knew how much flack Shepard got for letting Benezia's daughter stay on the ship, but she knew that the Commander was adamant about his decision.
Liara knew that her mother had decided to help Saren, it made no sense, the fact that her own mother would help a rogue spectre bring the destruction to the galaxy made Liara sick to her stomach, she preferred not to think about it.
This however did not settle well with the rest of the crew, the human crew was already weary of other species on board the ship, and having a daughter of a traitor made it even worse for her. Everyone knew about how Shepard felt about his crew, so there was no hostility, but it seemed that the indifference and lack of trust was even worse, and she couldn't blame them. The only person that seemed to care was doctor Chakwas.
Liara took her food and went to and empty table, this was her fourth time here, she preferred to eat in the lab section of the med bay, but doctor Chakwas wouldn't let her eat there all the time, saying that it wasn't healthy or sanitary. Liara sat down and started to eat slowly, trying not to look at the alliance soldiers at the nearby tables, she couldn't help overhearing their conversations however, trivial things about the state of alliance, friends and relatives on the colonies, the citadel, the main topic however was always their mission.
Just as Liara's train of thought started to drift away, her solitude got interrupted when a quarian sat right next to her. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya quickly set her tray down next to Liara's and sat down. Some of the soldiers greeted her, and she waved to them.
Tali then turned to Liara, "Hey Liara, why are you sitting here all by yourself?"
"Oh, I... just... umm..." Liara stumbled.
"Having trouble adjusting?" Tali asked, wasting not time prepping her meal mid conversation.
"Yes, Goddess, I never knew it would be this difficult to fit in, it is like Serrice all over again."
"Don't worry, it'll pass, humans are strange, they are like a pack of varren at first, but they grow on you over time." Tali replied fidgeting with a straw.
"Oh Goddess, I had no idea humans were parasitic in nature!" Liara blurted out.
There was a moment of silence, before Tali started laughing really loud, it took almost a minute before she managed to stop herself.
"N-no Liara, that is not what I meant." Tali replied suppressing further urges to laugh, "I meant that you get attached to them emotionally. Let me upload this quick guide on humans on your omnitool, i think that will let you avoid a few of the situations we just had." Tali chuckled as she powered up her holographic gadget. "And don't worry, for what its worth, I understand what it means to feel out of place."
"Okay." was the only thing Liara could say, her face still purple from blushing. "Goddess how embarrassing!" she thought to herself.
"Just a few of my personal thoughts on the crew" added Tali while in the middle of the upload, "Garrus seems like a nice guy, typical turian though, shoot first, ask questions later, Shepard is working on him though, hopefully we'll see an improvement."
Tali finished with the upload and took one of the tubes that stood on her tray, she pulled an elastic straw and attached it to a small valve on the side of her voice modulator of her helmet. Liara was watching curiously, as she never seen a quarian eat before. Tali continued: "Kaidan is also nice, he's a human biotic, uses implants that cause him great discomfort, still he and Shepard seem to be good friends."
Tali took a few sips and continued: "Wrex is pretty smart for a krogan, and just as dangerous, not to mention that he's a biotic as well, just don't ask him about the genophage, it's a touchy subject for him." Tali took another sip and then disconnected the tube she was holding, getting a new one. You already know doctor Chakwas, she's nice and I am sure you already ran into Joker, the helmsman. Yeah, I think you should stay away from him till you get to know humans better."
Tali finished off the second tube she had been drinking from and added. "Oh and stay away from Ashley too, she is not into species other then her own and I think you hit a sour note with her when she saw the Commander carry you to the ship."
"But... but I was unconscious." Liara said defensively
"I know, and she knows, but her ego doesn't seem to know it, just for your own good stay away from her Liara. Oh and of course you already know Shepard."
"The Commander seems to be rather busy at the moment." Liara said with a bit of sadness in her voice.
Tali noticed the change: "Don't worry he will come around, he just had it rough from the Council, so he had to get some things moving and ready for the next mission." Tali stood up, "Well I got to go, if you ever want to talk Liara, find me in the engine core room. See you later."
"Tali!" Liara called out to the quarian, Tali turned around. "Thank you." said Liara and smiled for the first time since she arrived. Tali waved and left towards the elevator.
Liara quickly finished her food, eager to go study the guide that Tali gave her, she did not want to embarrass herself in front of Shepard. She quickly left the mess hall and went towards the med bay, she opened the door and rushed by doctor Chakwas startling her, she reached the lab door, opened it, made a quick apology to the doctor and closed it.
Liara settled into the lab chair, picked up a data pad and started the transfer from her omnitool, reading from the pad would be more comfortable. The transfer finished and Liara picked up the data pad, and opened the first chapter of the guide. Right as she started reading, she heard a noise of opening door behind her, to her horror it was John Shepard.
"Goddess, I am not prepared yet!" she thought to herself frantically trying to stuff the data pad into the table drawer. Shepard walked in and stopped behind Liara's chair, she quickly turned around giving up on the data pad sticking out of the half closed drawer.
"Co-Comander! Did you come to check up on me?" Liara blurted out.
"You look much better, how are you feeling?" Shepard asked with a smile.
"Doctor Chakwas says I am going to be fine, I was really impressed with her knowledge of asari physiology."
"She is the best at what she does, I don't think I would be standing here right now if it wasn't for her."
There was an awkward moment of silence.
"Is... is there something you wanted to ask me Commander?"
"Sorry, I was just thinking about an earlier meeting with the Council, and please Liara, just call me Shepard. I wanted to know more about the asari." Shepard replied.
Liara was a bit taken aback by the casual nature of the Commander, but she realized that Shepard might not have had much interaction with asari serving on an Alliance vessel. She gathered herself together and prepared to answer any questions he had. She began with an overview of her species.
"Well, we were the first species to achieve interstellar flight, the mass relay network and the Citadel itself, we were also instrumental at creating the Council." Liara replied recalling her history lessons back from the academy days on Serrice.
"I heard that the asari live up to a thousand years, tell me more about the asari physiology." Shepard replied awkwardly.
"He's joking right?" Liara thought, looking at Shepard's expression, but there wasn't even a hint of a smile on his face.
"Well, the most common misconception about us is that we have a gender, our species is monogendered, male and female have no real meaning to us." Liara continued.
Shepard's eyes widened a bit. "If you only have one gender, then how do you reproduce?"
"We have the ability to join with other, beings, we meld our minds, reaching into the very core of their beings, this union, this bond allows us to conceive offspring, physical contact may or may not be involved." Liara replied, feeling like an encyclopedia on her species.
"Sounds incredible, but the asari live so long, how do you cope with the loss of your bond mates?"
"We learned to take a philosophical approach to the matter Shepard, we enjoy the time we have with our bond mates, and even after they are gone, they still remain with us thanks to the meld."
"Do you know who was Benezia's bond mate?"
"No... I do not." Liara tried to hide her frown.
"I am sorry, I did not know, we can change the subject." Shepard replied quickly.
"It is alright Shepard, you did not know, and we do not have to change the subject."
"If you are sure, so what do you know about Benezia's bond mate?"
"All I know is that she was another asari."
"Wait, you can do that?" Shepard asked puzzled. Liara couldn't hold back a chuckle.
"Think about it Shepard, if we couldn't mate with our own kind we would have died out before we reached interstellar flight. Mating between two asari is no longer a common practice among our people, many think that it weakness our species. I is what you call a... a "pure blood" although no asari would be cruel enough to say that to my face. It is a considered to be a great insult to my people. Perhaps it was the reason why my mother did not talk about her bond mate, perhaps she was embarrassed of her."
"You don't know that Liara, perhaps something happened to her, maybe she couldn't visit you, maybe she passed away."
"You might be right..." Liara's face brightened, "In fact, I hope you are." Liara smiled, the conversation seemed to go better then she hoped. As her scientific curiosity took over, she decided to ask questions this time. "Shepard, you said that you encountered a working Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. Could you tell me more?"
"The beacon burned a vision into my mind, I can't really tell what the message was however."
Liara's eyes were the size of plates now, she sat at the edge of her chair almost ready to jump up. "That is amazing Shepard! You were touched by an actual working prothean technology! A lesser mind would have been destroyed by the process, but you are incredibly strong willed Commander!"
"Amazing huh? Sounds like want to dissect me in a lab somewhere." Shepard said with a smile.
Liara's face went pale, how could she insult Shepard like that without thinking. "No, Goddess, I did not mean to insinuate..." she shook her head, "no that's even worse!"she was nearly panicking now.
Shepard raised his arms, "Relax Liara, I was only joking!" He said smiling.
"Oh... Goddess, how could I be so dense?" Liara was blushing from embarrassment, "You must think that I am a complete and utter fool. This is why I prefer the solitude of the dig sites." She sighed.
Shepard walked up closer to Liara, squatted down, so their faces would be on an even level and put his hand on Liara's shoulder, he looked her in the eyes and said, "Liara you need to worry less." He said with a smile, "The crew will accept you, just give them time, besides, I see you already made two friends." He took his hand off her shoulder, "We'll talk later, I have to go." Shepard, turned around and walked out.
Liara was left speechless for a few moments, trying to collect herself, she expected many things from Shepard, but he managed to impress her in way she has not even considered. The line of questioning about her species was just a way for him to get her to talk and open up to him. He could have learned that information from any place on the extranet. But he chose a personal approach so he could get to know her better.
It was clear now why he got his Spectre status, he was not just a grunt, a soldier, he was also a cunning tactician. He intrigued Liara, a feeling that was new to her, yet very alluring.
Liara moved back into the chair and took out the data pad she tried to hide, she set it aside, and reached for the nearby console, she needed to know more about Shepard, he was like a Prothean dig site and she was the Prothean expert, she wanted to learn more about him.