With Lions

Updated Author's Note: I have been reading some extraordinary works these past months, and have been inspired to try my hand at a Shepard story. A big thank you goes out to the ME fanfic writing community for getting me started!

I intend to have a unique Shepard that follows the Mass Effect story lines. Hopefully it will span all three games, maybe after.

Lesson learned. Never say never. I said I'd never change the rating past T and now it's M. Kinda awkward. I changed the rating due to the excessive amounts of adult language. I also said nothing too AU would occur. I may have lied about that as well.

Disclaimer: I reserve no rights to the Mass Effect franchise. I will receive no compensation for this story and have posted it on this site for entertaiment purposes only.

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Chapter One: Enter Doctor T'Soni

Doctor Liara T'Soni, he decided, was not a threat. She was way too naïve to plan anything sinister. The poor thing could hardly look him in the eyes, no way was she in league with a crazy (rather bitchy) asari matriarch. His conclusion became concrete when Ashley Williams implied that Liara was in cahoots with Benezia, and all the asari could do was stutter and look angry. Wrex, the strangely insightful Krogan, also contributed to Shepard's judgment by using her social awkwardness as a joke. He joked, "I thought asari were supposed to be the social butterflies of the galaxy." Making everyone laugh, and turning Liara bluer. It was definitely the asari version of blushing, and it was definitely sincere. Evil people didn't blush so intensely at nothing, and look so convincing while doing so.

After dismissing everyone from their meeting in the conference room, Shepard decided to go talk to Liara more. She probably had no idea where to go or sleep... Plus it wouldn't hurt to be friends with a cute asari. When he reached the crew deck, however; he found that she had indeed wasted no time in finding a suitable place to sleep just past the med bay. After entering and nodding to Doctor Chakwas, he started to wonder why Liara had picked such an out of the way place. Then he remembered the hostility she had experienced, and mentally noted to shut that down before Liara entered Level 90 of Hermitness. Was hermitness even a word? A few moments later, he came to the conclusion that it most certainly wasn't, but it sure as hell should've been.

He knocked on her door, and waited for the call to come in. He took those few moments of silence to look around his ship arrogantly. Commanding officer was a position he could easily love.

He entered the asari's lair and was immediately impressed by what he saw. Liara had already set up her living quarters in what was probably a record-setting time. It was certainly impressive considering Shepard took ages to set up his living space, and he didn't own nearly half the crap Liara did. She had monitors already set up, and a cot in the corner with a full bed set.

"I trust that the Normandy will suit your needs, Doctor," Shepard started, still eyeing that comfortable looking bed.

"Oh yes!" she exclaimed forcing Shepard to look away from that positively luxurious bed, "The Normandy is one of the most advanced ships I've ever seen, and should be able to fill my needs as resident archaeologist." Liara kept talking about the Normandy and its features, but Shepard couldn't stop thinking about her bed sheets. How could a new member of his team get such nice stuff; he didn't even have that nice a stuff as Commanding Officer. He should probably ask the requisitions officer for new sheets. After all, how could he fight a crazed Turian with crappy stuff? It just wa-, "Commander? Are you okay?...Oh goddess, I'll get -."

"That won't be necessary. I'm sorry, I-ah-kinda zoned out. I was just admiring your bed." Shepard would have continued, but Liara started turning a curious shade of blue and he realized that what he had just said probably sounded like some awful innuendo, "I mean that I don't even get that myself, so I was just wondering where you got it?" Colt impressed even himself with that save.

They continued to talk about meaningless and trivial things, but Shepard enjoyed the small talk. Useless words were an everyday fact of life seeing that he dealt with Udina, and similar politicians, almost every day. Considering his circumstances, he had trained himself to enjoy shallow conversations. But it felt different with Doctor T'Soni. It felt like it was going somewhere.