A/N : This is my first ever fan fiction. So I appreciate all kind of review. Please do not be harsh. Fair warning, English is my second language so expect some spelling/grammar mess. I try my best to make sure it perfect but well nobody perfect. This story is my own take, over Mass Effect 3 ending between my Female Shepard and Liara. My Shepard is Paragade. Mostly a Paragon but she is known to take some Renegade action/speech from time to time; usually when something pissed her off. My Shepard background is a Spacer and War Hero. I will try my best to stick with Shepard name without any mentioning of my Shepard's first name. Maybe there will be some mention of Shepard's first name, but I will try to keep it at minimum. It's because I find it a bit awkward to mention Shepard by her first name when we are so use to calling her Shepard in game. Lastly a special shout-out to my Beta, kirki101 who helped me revised this chapter and story in general.
*I do not own anything except most of the story and some characters. Credits to where it's due; mostly BioWare of course.*
Chapter 1: Beating The Odds
"I wish we could spend more time together like this. Just… friends."
" 'Friends' doesn't cut it for me anymore, Liara."
"Well, that sounds serious."
"I am serious. Whatever happens… I'd like to spend my life with you."
"Then you're extremely lucky that I feel that way, too."
"I know."
As the flash of her last time with Liara in the Presidium where she committed herself to Liara playing in her mind, Shepard tried to open her eyes.
"Damn it, Shepard. You can't die again. You can't hurt her again!" Shepard thought as she tried to open her eyes but to no avail. All she could hear are distant noises, a few beeping sounds, and someone talking. Shepard tried again, and this time trying to move her arms and but once again fails.
"What's happening? Why can't I move? And why can't I feel anything?"
The thought she couldn't open her eyes and couldn't feel her body freaked her out as she heard the beeping sounds getting got faster and faster.
"Doctor! I think Shepard is waking up." said a woman's voice.
"Commander, please stay calm. You are still badly injured. Marie, give her more sedation. We can't have her waking up too early." said someone who Shepard could only presume was a doctor.
Shepard tried to speak but, like before, she couldn't. She slowly feels felt her mind slipping away as the sedation takes got the better of her. The last thing she thought was "Liara". Much to everyone's surprise, Shepard managed to murmur that slowly quietly as her heart rate slowed down.
"Admiral Shepard, who is Liara?" Dr. Charlie Hart, who's responsible for treating Shepard, asked.
"I- I don't know. We haven't been that close ever since her father went MIA." replied Shepard's mom, who was in the room where Shepard was being treated.
"I think she means Dr. Liara T'Soni. One of her crew. I also know for a fact that Shepard was seeing her. I got reports saying Shepard sent Liara and one of her crew aboard the Normandy as she make a final push to the beam because they were hurt." answered Admiral Hackett who also in the room.
"Dr. T'Soni? You mean Matriach Benezia's daughter? I didn't know they were seeing each other. Since when?" Hannah Shepard asked in surprise.
"They have been hitting it off since Normandy SR-1, but they kept it a secret. Only everyone aboard the ship knew about their relationship, and of course I did, too. But ever since Shepard died aboard the Normandy SR-1, their relationship was hardly a secret anymore." said Rear Admiral Anderson, entering the room in a wheelchair.
"Admiral, you should be in bed, resting." Dr. Hart said.
"A bullet isn't going to stop me from seeing Shepard. Damn Shepard. Is she going to be okay?" Anderson asked.
"I believe so, yes. With all the implants Cerberus put on her, I believe she will survive the injuries. But if we can find someone who was involved in the Lazarus Project, her chances of surviving will be even better." Dr. Hart answered.
"Lucky for you I am here." said someone in an Australian accent who just stepped into the room. Dr. Harris wondered how she managed to sneak past two Alliance guards ordered to watch Shepard's room.
"I'm Miranda Lawson. I heard Shepard did it again. I figure the Alliance doctors would need my help regarding Shepard. I led the Lazarus Project and I need all the charts you have on her. I also need to check if her implants working properly."
"Yes, Ms. Lawson. Please come in my office, I will show you the charts and we can talk more there." Dr. Hart said hurriedly, as he wasn't going to turn down help from the former Cerberus operative if that's meant Commander Shepard would live.
As the doctor and Miranda left the room, Anderson spoke. "Did someone tell the Normandy yet?"
"We still haven't been able to reach them. I have sent all ships that won't need to be fixed to go look for them. They may have crash landed somewhere and are in need of parts to fix the ship. That's the least thing we could do for Shepard. Also I'm not looking forward to telling Shepard what happened to the Normandy." Admiral Hackett answered.
"If this doesn't kill her, that will. If anything happened to her crew and Liara, especially Liara, I don't think she can keep her sanity. She lost lots of her crew through the Reapers war. First it was Jenkins. That was even before the war. Then she chose Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams over Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko in Virmire. We all know what happened to the first Normandy. If something happened to them, I'm not going to be the first one to tell her." Anderson said as he lightly touched Shepard's right hand. "You deserve some peace, Shepard." Anderson whispered slowly.
"Damn it. Where the hell are we, EDI?" Joker yelled to the Normandy AI.
"I do not think we have ever been here before, Joker." replied EDI. "I'm still scanning around the area, but with the damage we had, it could take some time."
"Screw that. I'm going outside to see what's in the area." Joker said, as he made his way to the airlock. Garrus also decided to come along. As they stepped out of the Normandy the sight in front of them was breathtaking. It looked like the planet was untouched by the Reapers. As Joker and Garrus looked around the ship, Liara stepped out of the ship.
"Goddess. You did it, Shepard." The thought of Shepard sent tears to Liara's eyes.
"You're not leaving me behind."
"No matter what happens… You mean everything to me, Liara. You always will."
"Shepard… I… I am yours."
"No. She can't be dead. She can't!" thought Liara as she ran back to the Normandy to check on her Shadow Broker networks. She needed to find out if Shepard survived or not.
After a few days of repairing the Normandy by Tali, Engineer Adams, Donnelly and Daniels with help from EDI, Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor and even Garrus doing some odd work here and there, the repair went faster than anyone has expected. After days of researching the news about Shepard, Liara still couldn't find out if her bondmate was alive or not. The thought of Shepard dying again sting stung her heart. She couldn't lose Shepard again.
"Glyph, alert me once we have any news about Shepard." Liara asked as she made her way out of her office toward the CIC.
"Samantha. Did the Alliance contact us yet?" Liara asked the Normandy Comm Specialist.
"No. Our comm and QEC are still not fully repaired. Tali and I are still working on that as we speak. The fastest we could get it working is in two days." replied Specialist Traynor as she still focused on the console in front of her.
"Liara. It's good I see you here. There something I need to talk to you about." Ashley said before continue with a little hesitation. "It's about Shepard."
"What about Shepard?" Liara asked in annoyance.
"I- I mean some of us think Shepard maybe didn't…" before Ashley could finish, Liara interrupted.
"No! She's not dead!" Liara yelled as her body glowed blue. Knowing what that's meant, Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams took a few steps back. She may be the second human Spectre, but she wasn't stupid enough nor braved enough to put more fire to anger a very distraught Asari. Especially if it's Commander Shepard's partner.
"I'm sorry. EDI said we are capable of space flight again, and maybe we should fly back to Earth and find her. If that's okay with you. I mean, I just wanted to tell you that. We will take off in 30 minutes." Ashley said as she hurriedly left the CIC to the bridge.
"That was stupid, Ashley. I bet Shepard will have a field day when she heard about this." Ashley murmured to herself.
"I take it you angered a certain biotic Asari?" Joker said in amusement. "You know, I don't even think Shepard could take her if she's really mad. I think only Liara can ever beat the great Commander Shepard."
"Shut up Joker. You and your dirty mind. Shepard would kill you if she heard any of this. Now let's get out of this planet. I've had enough of this planet to last a lifetime. Or so Shepard would say. Let's head back to Earth." Ashley said in annoyance.
"Aye aye, ma'am."
A/N: I hope you guys like the first chapter. All reviews are welcome. But once again please don't be too harsh as I'm still an amateur and this is the first story I ever written that I publish in public.