Epilogue

Liara sat at the desk in her office attempting to read the latest report from Omega as rain drops sounding like muted applause from a crowd pelted the outside window. Sighing heavily in frustration, she re-read the beginning paragraph for the fourth time, but it was still incomprehensible. She knew it wasn't the efficiency of the report though, she just couldn't stay focused. Her mind kept wandering to the security footage she had seen earlier in the day. Commander Lakota Shepard coming to the rescue of the asari emissary, Lysandra. Liara felt a tightness stretch across her chest; felt the heat on her cheeks as the familiar sensation of jealously burned through her veins. She hated that feeling, but had no ability to stop it once it assaulted her senses. The only way she could control it was by not thinking about Shepard, by working herself to exhaustion, to forgetfulness, to numbness which is why she was still at the office instead of at her apartment getting some rest. She knew sleep would be more elusive tonight than it had been in the last two years, and that was saying something.

As the rain continued its torrential assault, Liara closed her eyes and let her head fall into the palm of her right hand, the weight of the burdens she carried seeping into her bones. She was weary. The memory of Shepard walking into her Illium office, their final exchange, haunted her thoughts by ghosting on the edge of her awareness, an everlasting reminder of regret. That day, Shepard had wanted more than she could give and pushed the conversation to the point where she bitterly revealed that she had been the one who had given the Spectre's body to Cerberus- an organization that Shepard despised. And then when Shepard asked for her help, asked to join her on the Normandy, she refused. Liara told the Spectre that she had her own priorities, her own concerns, and that she needed to stay focused on atoning for her debts, but that wasn't the whole story. The rest was never uttered; it just lay in her thoughts, a truth that burned like a living coal in her soul. She had been afraid.

Liara had already lost her lover once, in a splintered mass of flames and metal, and had almost lost herself to grief in its aftermath. Logically, she had known that the possibility of one of them dying existed, but knowing it and experiencing it were two vastly different realities and in the wake of such trauma spread a jagged, festering wound oozing with guilt and remorse. Then without warning, two years after that infamous day, Shepard returned bringing with her the memory of all that anguish and surreptitiously exposed a wound that had never fully healed. Liara had been overwhelmed. The idea of putting herself at such risk again had been terrifying, so in an act of self-preservation she pushed Shepard away.

The moment the door closed on Shepard's receding form, Liara had felt a stark emptiness, like funeral shroud, blanket her being. With crystal clear clarity, she recognized what she had done and saw that she had made an irreparable mistake. She had been cold and remote to someone she loved all because fear had take root within her heart. She had been absolute in her refusal and in that absoluteness there was no room for forgiveness. Even if someday, somehow, Shepard was able to forgive her, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself. She had agonized over various ways to possibly reestablish a connection, but four weeks later, she still didn't know how to mend the rift and because second chances were for fiction and fairy tales she knew the truth would fade away, lost in the sands of time - never spoken, never known. She was still in love with Lakota Shepard.

Liara dropped the datapad on a stack of others, pushed her chair away from the desk and then began to pace the room, a newly acquired habit. She found the physical activity calming to her mind and usually the repetitive movement rewarded her with clarity. Sadly, the meditative routine wasn't working tonight. Even as she continued her back and forth march, she knew thoughts of Shepard wouldn't be so easily subdued. They never were.

Startled out of her reverie by the unexpected ring of her door chime, she ceased her pacing and then chided herself for not having taken the time to replace Nyxeris. Her halted movement placed her in front of the door, but the monitor showing the security vid of her office's entrance was back at her desk. Instead of taking the time to walk back there, blue tendrils of biotic energy rippled down her right arm. If someone was going to attack her, they were going to be in for a big surprise.

"Open," she growled, and then immediately took a step back, shocked by the sight before her—Commander Lakota Shepard, dressed in casual clothes, dripping wet from the rainy weather outside.

Liara's breath caught in her throat and she felt her heart pounding her chest, thundering like a war drum as the biotic energy along her arm drained away. She desperately tried to focus on the woman in front of her, but a light-headedness swept over her making it difficult to concentrate. She couldn't comprehend why the woman was there, at her office, in the middle of the night.

"Shepard," she said, trying to gain control of the situation, "what do you want?"

"You."

Then she felt warm lips possessively capture hers in a fierce, lustful kiss while powerful arms wrapped around her, infusing her against a firm body. The wet cloth was cool against her skin, but was quickly forgotten when demanding lips parted and tongues began a provocative dance of blissful entanglement. Like a tide being swooned by the moon's ardent pull, she was swallowed in the waves of a heavenly delirium. As strong hands securely fastened on the base of her neck and back keeping any idea of escape a futile possibility, she realized that for the first time in her life she was beginning to believe in fairy tales.

Author's End Note:

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the tale!

If you want to find out what happens next, then take a look at "The Reclaiming." It is the conclusion to this story...