InsaneJournal

Who: Jane Shepard and Liara T’soni
What: A reunion
Where: Near the Park
When:Backdated to after Their network interaction
Rating: Assume Medium. Likely emotion, affection, talk of war and possibly talk of character Death. Seriously though. Expect feels.
Status: Log, complete

Liara found herself annoyed that she couldn’t seem to stop pacing or tapping her toe while she waited. Anxiety was an emotion long removed from her general thoughts as there just wasn’t time for it. There was a Galaxy to save, Reapers to stop, answers to uncover. There wasn’t time to be anxious, there wasn’t time to let her feelings get so tangled up in what she knew had to be done, and what purpose did it serve to be looking around for Jane? She would come, she always did. Death hadn’t stopped the woman, and Liara doubted suddenly being on a strange ship would either. She tried to busy herself, as she often would in times like these, by borrowing against the experience of her years spent waiting for the woman to return herself to the land of the living. She tried to focus on a memory that she could recall with ease, something simple. It had gotten harder in recent years, as the bulk of their time was spent chasing Goddess knew what, across places she really tried not to think about. There were still those few, rare, moments where they two of them could find quiet and bask in the glow of the massive bank of monitors that took up her living space. That was a good memory and it seemed to serve well enough to calm the bristle she felt rolling up in her spine. It wouldn’t stop her gloved fingers from tapping an idle rhythm on the handle of her holstered pistol, or keep her from adjusting herself in a manner that might have resembled preening. Aesthetics were, generally speaking, a far removed care for Liara. They always had been, as they had been simply impractical for her when much of her life was spent alone and digging in the dirt. It was one of the many examples of just how Shepard had rubbed off on her over the years. She cared about things she might have otherwise not, she wanted to do better, to be better, and, maybe every once and a while, she wanted to look nice for the woman. When her eyes finally settled on the approaching figure, Liara felt her breath catch in her throat. That shape had been forever burned into her mind and wrapped around the better parts of herself. She wouldn’t have ever forgotten it, if only because she thought of it so often, but she knew she couldn’t either and would recognize it forever -- and that was just fine by her. Pausing to straighten herself up right, she offered a faint smile as the last little bits of distance closed between them. They’d always done well, maneuvering through the carefully plotted dialogue surrounding their feelings for one another, but Liara knew her eyes were always the dead giveaway. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t try, and certainly not when she felt the warm rush roll through her face that forced her eyes to glance somewhere down at her feet. “Your track record for the impossible is getting all the more impressive Shepard.” Because ‘Jane’ was a private term and, until she had a better grip on what was going it was going to be business as usual between herself, and the Commander who’d swept her off her feet ever since Therum. Ever since she had arrived, Shepard had hoped that either she’d get sent back home or that someone from home would come to join her. That hope was strong at first, but as time wore on that hope had become a smoldering ember when once it was a burning flame. She had tried to push those thoughts to the back of her mind and, more than anything, she tried to keep busy. It wouldn’t do to dwell on things that she had no power to change. For the most part she trained to pass the time, because whether or not she went home it would do no good to be out of practice. That, and she was a soldier. She’d been one for so long now that idle time was a foreign thing to her, and it left her out of sorts to be left to her own devices. Back home, there was always a battle to be fought, a war to be won. On board Knowhere, it was different. As, while they had fought a battle recently, for the most part it was calm here--peaceful. She’d tried to tell herself that she liked it in Freedomtown and maybe given more time she would, but the atmosphere left her with an unsettled feeling in her gut. Always a soldier, she thought as she made her way to Mar-Vell Memorial Park to meet Liara, her pace quick. When her thoughts weren’t of war, or home, or of this new situation she found herself in, they were of Liara. If she wasn’t wondering what she was doing, then she’d be thinking of the things that she had done, the times that they had shared. Even thinking about the young Asari seemed to have a soothing quality on Shepard. In the three months that Shepard had been on board Knowhere, she’d made a handful of friends. Back home, on the Normandy, they were subordinates as well as friends, but here the dynamic was different. She wasn’t Commander, she was simply Shepard. Angela had called her a warrior and perhaps that was true to a degree, but she was just human here, expectations didn’t weigh her down as heavily. She was over-thinking again. She let out a sigh as she approached Liara and almost wondered if this was the same Asari that she knew, but those thoughts were quickly banished from her mind when she saw the look in her eyes, the way she glanced down as if in embarrassment. This was the Liara that she knew. She was sure of it. “Well, you know me,” she replied dryly, “I never try to disappoint.” “You haven’t yet….” Liara replied softly, lifting her gaze to meet Jane’s gaze finally. “I would like to say I am surprised, but far too many times have you convinced me that impossible is a word I do not understand.” She offered a soft smile up to Jane, her eyes scanning her. Liara had known the woman for years. Arguably she could have made the case that she was the only human she had actually known. She’d devoted the entirety of who she was to Jane. When they’d met, she’d been some simple, young, innocent child, digging in the dirt to avoid all the things she felt like were wrong to her. Jane had shown her a better way, a higher cause, something that mattered, and Liara had never once forgotten it. It was why she’d followed her across the galaxy, why she’d gone to war to bring her back, why she stood tall in spite of everything they faced. As long as she had that woman by her side, there was nothing the couldn’t face, nothing the couldn’t defeat. It really was that simple. Awkwardly, Liara shuffled slightly. “Would you mind if I…” Liara felt her fingers thread slightly, as she took the first step between herself and what little remained of her and Shepard. “What I mean to say is...would it be inappropriate of me if I…?” Her fingers continued to dance among themselves for a moment. She wanted to thread herself along Jane’s form, get a soft feel for her own memory, and take in the woman’s scent again. Everything felt so surreal. Liara knew there was only one thing that would ground her and it was the one thing that had her reaching out for the woman in front of her. “I have missed you.” She offered. “Even in only the minutes when you were gone…” She confessed, her voice fracturing slightly under the weight of the very real emotion she could no longer hide. “I worry about you, you know…” She tried to shift gears. “Always running off, saving the galaxy. Honestly Shepard….” She paused slightly, taking another shuffling step forward, her hands now just inches from Jane. “How am I ever supposed to tell you anything important if you’re always running off into space?” She tried to make herself laugh, tried not to seem like the one thing she wanted most in the world was to take that last step and swing her arms around Jane. She tried to keep her eyes distracted, dry of any of the heartfelt rush that was working its way into her face. She tried to keep herself from getting too emotional. The woman had fought a war after all and, if Liara was being entirely honest? She looked quite good for having done so -- despite the admitted bias. “Do I ask what happens now?” She piqued with a faint smile. “No Brandy. No Normandy…” She finally pushed her eyes upward. Her eyes shifted slightly about their surroundings as she finally mustered the courage to reach for Jane’s hand. “If I were to be dreaming, if not for your presence, I would swear this to be a nightmare…” Shepard simply let Liara speak, in part because she felt that it was the best way for Liara to wrap her head around the situation, but mostly, selfishly, because she had missed the sound of her voice. For Liara, only hours may have passed since they had physically spoken, but for Shepard it had been months. Almost as if in answer to that first incomplete question, her hand met Liara’s halfway and she threaded their fingers. She’d be lying if she said that her heart wasn’t breaking in this moment and despite her cool, calm demeanor, the look in her eyes betrayed her. In the deepest darkest recesses of her mind, she doubted that they’d ever see each other again. And to go from months of nothing but dreams and memories to being able to hear Liara’s voice and to touch her was almost too much to bear. She smiled faintly as she watched Liara, thinking that there wasn’t a single thing that she would change about her. “I’ve missed you too, Liara,” she said, her voice changing slightly, dropping to a more soothing tone that was reserved for private moments. “And I can’t say that I have all of the answers.” She paused and glanced down and after a few seconds deliberation she reached for Liara’s free hand and took hold of it, already falling into old, confident habits. “But whatever happens next I promise that we’ll face it together, like we always have,” she said, looking up to meet Liara’s eyes again and taking a small step closer to her so that only a few inches separated them. The touch, that touch, remained electric as ever. Even faint as the initial dance of their fingers was, it made her feel a level of excitement that she had no words for, that she’d never had words for, but had never feel she needed to explain either. Her hand knew what to do, knew every last contour it needed to curve around around, and Liara followed that step in to close the distance under the motivations of a very thunderous heart. “Half the fun…” She offered slightly, tipping her head upwards so that she could look Jane in the eye. “Is finding the answers. If we’re in a place where we might be able to manage that without…” Her voice drifted faintly again as her eyes studied Jane’s face intently. She knew it, absolutely knew it. She could see that it had changed and, while that revelation was disconcerting in a mild way, it didn’t change the fact: This was Commander Jane Shepard. Every part of her knew it. It was what finally tugged her lips up into a faint smile. “...without being shot at as much. I think I would be inclined to call that a victory.” And then, there she was, just inches from Liara. She felt her breath catch in her throat, felt the sound of her rushing heart blocking out all the noise in the world. She curled her hand a little tighter around Jane’s, taking the last step forward to gently brush her cheek against the woman’s own. It was a gesture that proved to be the last crack in the dam of her resolved composure, as both of her hands shifted to wrap around Jane tightly. “We’ve yet to find a question we can’t get to the bottom of.” She offered in a soft whisper, her chords slightly choked with the bubbling of fresh emotions that threatened to wet the blue of her cheeks. She tried to blink them back, but failed as she stepped back to gently press her palms against Jane’s sides. Letting go was simply not an option at the moment, despite the way she sniffled faintly before finishing her statement. “I just do hope this time the answer is not a race of genocidal machines as big as buildings. I think we’ve gone through enough of that for both of your lifetimes, and certainly mine.” Shepard set one hand to Liara’s shoulder when she pulled away and cupped the other to her cheek, thumbing away any tears before she could shed them. She had so many things that she’d dreamed about saying, about asking, but words failed her. Perhaps that was for the best for the moment, as she was struggling to find her breath--it was almost like she’d forgotten how to breathe. Or was what she feeling the literal meaning of having one’s breath taken away? She offered Liara a soft smile, needing to take a moment. Battle was almost second nature to her, being in conflicts or wars. Matters of the heart made her feel as if she was floundering in a deep, endless ocean, but in the best possible way. “I don’t think that we can be that unlucky twice,” she murmured, chuckling briefly. This was all so surreal. The way that Liara constantly shifted or diverted her gaze made Shepard think about how they had first met, and how when time and even space was put between them, they always found their way back to each other. It was funny how the universe worked sometimes. Whichever one they happened to occupy at the time. She moved her hand to Liara’s other shoulder and gave it a squeeze, making sure to keep eye contact. “And I am bound and determined to…” Perhaps that was too strong to say. “...Well, you know me, Liara. I’m nothing if not stubborn,” she finished. She smiled again, much easier this time as she found herself falling into old rhythms. “And when I want something… for something to happen, the universe better fall in line.” She was trying to joke, but wasn’t it what they deserved after all they’d been through? Was it really too much to ask that things turned out for the better? That smile was like the most comforting thing in the world. Liara couldn’t help but to tip her head slightly, nuzzling her face against the warm brush of Jane’s hand. There was even the faintest of ‘coos’, as Liara felt all the stress and tension melt away from her just like stepping into the Mako after being out in the Noverian cold. Whatever she might have felt, however confused she might have been about being on this ship or the state of the war, it was all gone. There was simply no room for it in her thoughts, and that was just what she needed in that moment. “Do you really think we’ve used up all our bad luck?” She asked innocently, her eyes fluttering softly as her hand lifted to cup Jane’s against her face. “I hope you’re right. I’ve spent quite enough time without you, thank you very much -- and, while I very much enjoy the sight of you?” She mimicked that faint smile, her eyes never leaving Jane’s gaze no matter how intense she found herself feeling. “I do believe I’ll sleep much better knowing that there will be far less things shooting at you on a daily basis.” Like Jane, she was doing her best to keep things easy, trying to make sure she could find her breath and her rhythm. She didn’t want to get too caught up or swept away in this, and that particularly goal tended to get difficult when standing before Jane. There was that swirling gaze, that steadfast dedication, that indomitable resolve...so many things about the woman really. Standing tall in front of her however, was what Liara had always felt she deserved. After all, they were the things she’d picked up from their time together, traits that had shaped her into who she was here and now, and none of that would have been possible without the woman who so delicately framed her face at that moment. “It is one of your more...attractive...traits.” The lightly veiled sentiment of affection was passed to Jane under the light press of her fingers against Jane’s side. Expressing her feelings generally led to Liara wanting to -- what was the human expression? -- stick her foot in her mouth? Now was not the time for such a worry though. “I’ve seen what happens when the Universe gets an idea you don’t like…” She leaned in slightly, taken the brazen lead to just let her head rest against Jane’s shoulder for a moment. “But that raises the very important question..” She didn’t move, didn’t even so much as shift, as she let the warm beat of Jane’s heart lull her into a full state of relaxation. “What is it that you would like?” If we haven’t used all of our bad luck, then maybe we’ve used up all of our good, Shepard thought but didn’t say. Instead, she let herself enjoy the moment. The simple, subtle touches and words that conveyed so much. At Liara’s mention of things shooting at her, she smiled faintly. “I hardly get shot at these days,” she said with a slight lilt to her voice, trying to lighten the mood. For whose benefit she really couldn’t say. Shepard sighed when Liara rested her head on her shoulder and closed her eyes, a single tear slipping from her closed eyelids and trailing down her cheek. She wrapped her arms around the other woman and held her, breathing in her familiar scent. Even if she somehow managed to live to be a hundred she knew that she’d never forget it. To Liara’s question, like a child, dozens of things that she’d like came to mind. She’d like to be home. She’d like to share that Serrice Ice Brandy near an open fire. But the things that she’d like to happen and the things that did happen often didn’t go hand in hand. So it was easy to boil away those little things that she couldn’t change and focus on the things that she could. And while she was usually very delicate with her words--especially when they were in mixed company--she wanted to make herself very clear. “I would like for you to never leave my sight again.” She said, voice threatening to crack. She could only be strong so much, but when they were alone it was like all of her layers were peeled away and she was left bare. “I’d really like it if you could do that.” At Jane’s answer, Liara only tightened her hold on the woman. She knew she couldn’t promise that, not realistically and certainly not logically, but that’s not what this had ever been about. Nothing they’d faced had ever been reasonable or logical, but that was belittling the fact. They had seen war together. They had seen Death together. Liara had chased after the unreasonable and illogical when everyone in her life had told her she was wasting her time, that she needed to let go. It was one of the things that Jane had taught her early on: When something was important, you didn’t quit. You never gave up. You didn’t let go, and you followed what you believed no matter where it took you -- and these were not even options when the word love was being used. “I promise Jane.” She whispered softly against the woman’s neck, using her first name to add a special emphasis to the sentiment. She heard that crackling, as she had only a few times before, but she understood what it meant. She knew, despite Jane Shepard’s ability to stem the tide of impossibility, despite her ability to let nothing stop her, that did not mean things were easy. “Such a promise seems unfair, I know, but....accomplishing the unreasonable has always been our specialty.” She added, taking a soft turn back towards the levity which they were both used to as her hand sought Jane’s again to hold it gingerly before taking a faint step back to look the woman in the eye. “It’s all right now…” She offered, in a rare display. “Despite the confusion and lack of answers..” Because Liara didn’t even really know where to begin. “It’s all right. We’re all right.” She didn’t think she’d ever seen Jane cry. Frustrated actions, absolutely. She’d seen anger and rage at the Reapers, she’d seen headaches aplenty as the two had tried to bring together various types to work on the Crucible. But tears? Tears were a rare shedding for both of them. Perhaps that was why Liara pushed up on her toes and let a faint brush of her lips chase it from the curve of the woman’s cheek before stepping back into the embrace warmly. “I’ve spent more of my life chasing after you than I would have ever imagined.” She offered softly, letting the roll of her own emotions finally break through the surface as she buried herself in tightly against Jane. “And though I cannot say the experience was entirely unpleasant…I think I should very much enjoy it being a chapter we have finished.” She squeezed against Jane’s hand. “But I would follow you anywhere, and if what you need is to never lose sight of me again..?” When she finished, she leaned back again so Jane could see her face. “We’ll just have to install cameras you can access via your omni-tool so you can always see where I am.” Despite being wet-faced and obviously emotional, she did her best to crack the joke -- and hide the subsequent blue blush that rose to her cheeks as she laughed at herself and coiled back into the hug. “I think I would like to stay right here though, if it’s all the same to you..” Because, in Jane’s arms? It was where the world felt right, where she felt safe, and, more importantly to her, it felt like she belonged there -- and there was no other place in the whole galaxy where she’d ever felt such a thing. It was amazing how unfailing Shepard was in those beliefs, despite all that had happened in her admittedly short life. Then again, they were all that she clung to for a very long time. And she hoped to pass them on one day--but that’s another story. She knew that her request was unreasonable, illogical, and frankly very childlike, but Liara’s reply was enough to soothe her. Not many people spoke Shepard’s first name, or knew it for that matter, but Liara seemed to say it with a certain significance each time that she said it. “Unreasonable and impossible aren’t really things that get in our way for long, are they,” she murmured, watching Liara as she took a step back and relishing the simple act of hand holding. She held Liara’s gaze, wanting to memorize every moment, every word, every touch. She had always been the strong one of the two, had always found a way to reign in her emotions, but this was such a bittersweet reunion that tears couldn’t be helped. Shepard’s shoulders relaxed when Liara kissed her cheek, then folded back into her embrace, and she just held other woman, starting to rock her almost imperceptibly. “You don’t have to chase me anymore, Liara,” she added, keeping her voice soft. Logically, she knew that they could be teleported back home at any time (or so she’d been told), but the deep conviction in which she said that you could almost believe her. You could almost believe that she had control over Fate and Circumstance. When Liara made the joke about cameras, she laughed. It was such a foreign sound it surprised her at first, only to make her laugh again. Oh how she needed this. “We could stay here as long as you like.” Shepard wrapped her arms around Liara again and rested her forehead against the young Asari’s. “We could stay here forever.” Not literally, of course, but Shepard fully intended on embracing Liara as long as she was physically able, at any rate. “You’ll forgive me if I say part of me will miss it?” She offered in a light flirt. While watching Jane get shot at and dodge explosions was not particularly her favorite way to see the woman, there was an attractive allure there. Besides there was nothing wrong with appreciating a well shaped form, especially when it wasn’t covered in soot and grime, right? Either way, Liara took it as a good sign, that things felt somewhat normal again, as much as the two of them had anything that remotely resembled normal anyway. “But no, they do not. Nothing does.” She added warmly, joining Jane in the soft rocking that settled the very last of her rocky insides. Even Jane’s Death, an event that had shaken Liara to her very core, hadn’t stopped them for long. The memory however was enough for Liara to curl just that much closer, trying to blank out even the slightest space of distance between them. “I’m quite fond of things that way.” She added. “I’ve known you long enough to know that…” She didn’t want to finish the thought, didn’t want to say she knew what it felt like to lose her. “...That forever is precisely the length of time I would wish to stay.” Rationally, she knew Asari out-lived humans by a substantial margin, but that didn’t matter to her. It wasn’t a question of how much time would they have, because that was a question no one could really ever answer for certain, but rather how they would spend it. Especially now. Without Reapers, without a war, part of her had always wondered how they would fit. If this embrace was any sort of sound indication on the matter? Liara was beyond pleased with the result. This was where she felt happy. This was where she wanted to spend as many of her days as she could. Such was why, even though there were questions burning through her mind, Liara let herself fall silent. She let her damp eyes roll shut, let her body relax into the warm hold of Jane’s arms. She let her heartbeat quiet, felt it fall into some strange sync with Jane’s own. It was why she spun her own arms around the woman, lightly hooking her fingers into the collar of Jane’s top. She let herself sigh openly, contentedly even, as she drew in her first long breath of Jane’s scent. She let the reality of it all just sink in. This was real, this was happening, and it was just what she needed too. “I...I know it’s not the Normandy..” Liara began, once she finally found her voice again. “But I don’t suppose I could trouble you for a bit of a tour? Perhaps we might find something to eat?” The day had been inexplicably exhausting to anyone who hadn’t been there and, being suddenly presented with a sense of calm, Liara found that many of her biological signals were beginning to fire at exceptionally loud volumes. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to move out from under the rest of Jane’s chin against her. She told her legs that maybe they should move, do something beyond this gentle sway the two had adopted, but they would hear none of her reason -- and frankly Liara did not have it in her to fight it. “I do want you to know however...” She added suddenly, seemingly off-topic to her previous question. “That the next time you decide to run off and save the day? Because we both know that you will, I’m coming with you..” It wasn’t a question, wasn’t even a request, but rather Liara’s firm and stated fact. They’d been separated too many times by Jane’s understandable want to keep Liara out of harms way, and that was not a page of their story she was in any grand rush to have repeated. She pushed back slightly, so she could look Jane firmly in the eye one more time. “I can’t lose you again.” “I do look good in my armor,” Shepard joked in return. In fact, she’d been transported wearing it, but obviously didn’t have it on now. During her stay on board Knowhere she had acquired civilian clothing, some of which she was currently wearing. Black jeans and a white, collared shirt. She’d never be known for her sense of style--but as long as the clothing suited her needs she was perfectly fine with that. It was funny how, even when things remained unspoken between them, Shepard felt that she knew what Liara was thinking. Their bond was so strong that words sometimes just weren’t required. She sighed into the embrace and brought her hands up to join at the middle of Liara’s back, holding her as if whatever shred of sanity she had left depended on it. “There are a few restaurants along Main. I’m sure that we can find something appealing to you there,” she suggested, chuckling as her stomach rumbled, signaling her own need for sustenance. She might have suggested that they go to her private quarters, but she knew how discombobulating this place could be when one first arrived. It was best to let Liara get her bearings first. However long that may take. The shift in topic didn’t surprise Shepard, nor did the conviction in Liara’s voice. They were both very dogged when it came to the things that mattered. She met the Asari’s gaze unflinchingly and bobbed her head once. “You won’t,” she promised. And again, she had to add that little bit of levity: “You’re going to see me so often that you’re going to be sick of me, Liara.” She gently rested her forehead against Liara’s and smiled in a reassuring way. “And if or when I do have to go, you’ll always be with me.” “You certainly do…” She offered, feeling the warm flutter at their closeness. It was what made the commentary, despite how terrible Liara knew herself to be, so easy. Talking about emotion was something she could do in serious, but, when it came to actually offering some kind of flirting or declaration of amorous intent? Liara knew she was terrible. Namely she often said terribly inappropriate things which, though Liara would never understand or complain about, the woman in front of her had somehow found endearing. “I could never.” Liara answered the sentiment without delay and in genuine earnest. “Shepard…” She began softly. “Jane. I could never tire of you. Ever.” She held Jane’s gaze unflinchingly. “I’ve...I’ve been through days without you…” The admittance was hard but, more than anytime in their whole relation, she felt it needed to be said. “And never once could a day with you be something I would wish to be any other way.” She felt her eyes flutter again and she squeezed Jane’s hands tightly for a moment. “I never want to go another day where I know what that feels like.” Now that she’d said it, she almost felt silly, as if her emotions were getting the better of her. She didn’t flinch at the feeling. She didn’t shuffle her feet or look away, and instead did just the opposite. She stared, openly, into the woman’s eyes. She knew her own were trembling, quaking with the weight of everything she felt, but that was no reason she was willing to accept to let even the slightest doubt hang over how she felt. She even went one step further, tipping her head slightly to brush her nose against Jane’s chin. “Now...” She offered quietly, her tone laden deep with the affection she felt for the woman. “You’ve been here longer than I have, so I think it’s only reasonable we default into where you’d like to take me for dinner.” She shifted back on her heels, lifting her face just enough to press herself into a faint brush against Jane’s lips -- barring any decline from the woman of course. “Because I frankly think we’ve gone far too long without a proper meal together.” She let her lips blossom into a warm smile. “So. Where are we going?” It was with that thought that she shifted slightly, her hand never letting go of Jane’s, to wheel around to her side. It was then, and only then, that she finally loosed her fingers from Jane’s only, but only to nestle against the woman’s side with a light hook over Jane’s hip. There was no such thing now as too close, too deep. Liara had honestly felt that, the last time she’d seen Jane go, it was going to be the last time either one of them saw each other… ...She’d never been so happy to be so wrong about something in her entire life. There wasn’t a single thing about Liara that Shepard didn’t find endearing in some way, and if given half the chance she would tell her too, no matter how much it might embarrass the young Asari, or make her blush (which Shepard took great joy in seeing anyway). And while Shepard meant what she said as a joke, she could hear the distress in Liara’s voice and squeezed her hand in return. She never wanted to be the cause of such pain to the other woman. “Hush,” she cooed, holding her gaze. “You never will.” It was interesting how, despite their drastic difference in age, Liara’s uncertainty with her actions made her almost seem like a teenager--it made her seem so much younger than she actually was. And while she may have felt foolish for wearing her heart on her sleeve in that moment, it just made Shepard love her all the more. Shepard smiled at that familiar brush of affection, then placed a tender kiss to Liara’s lips when they were within reach. “There’s a sushi bar that we could try…” She replied with a light shrug and tilt of her head, as if to say ‘it couldn’t hurt’. Frankly, she couldn’t remember the last time that they’d been on a date. Then again, given that they had hardly little time together beyond work, that was hardly surprising. When Liara’s cuddled into her side, Shepard immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze before setting them off at a slow walk towards Main Road. On board the Normandy and even in public they’d always been guarded with their affections for one another. In part because Shepard didn’t want to seem like she was playing favorites to her crew, but mostly because they were intensely private people. Still, they didn’t have to hide what they meant to each other here. It was a nice feeling. “It’s not far.” The promises the two exchanged would have felt impossible, if Liara did not have the utmost faith in who was delivering them. She knew, for her part, she would stand by Jane no matter what. It wasn’t like, when she really stopped to think about it, they’d face anything worse than what they already had. When it came to Jane’s words? Liara believed them without hesitation. The woman’s indomitable resolve had served as a constant and, no matter how hard the world may have gotten, if Jane Shepard promised? Liara believed her absolutely. “Sushi…” Liara pursed, nestling under Jane’s arm. She had to admit, this was strange. The two were normally so very reserved. Liara had always understood it. She’d even encouraged Jane on several occasions to avoid every sense of favoritism they could. She understood what the crew had meant to Jane, and it was a sentiment the two of them shared. Now however, in light of everything, Liara had absolutely zero qualms about nestling herself against the woman’s side. When she felt Jane’s arm slip over her side? Well, that just made it all that much more perfect. “The human dish, consisting of raw fish and rice?” She asked curiously. Though the two had never discussed it, in much of the time since Liara had first come to grips with her feelings about Shepard, she’d begun to do research on humans. Customs and rituals had been of a particular fascination to her and, particularly around the time they’d visited Ilos, she’d of course snuck a slight peek at courtship rituals. Since being reunited, on those long nights of correlating Data about the Shadow Broker’s base, she’d done some looking into cuisine. Once upon a time, Liara had wanted to talk about perhaps one day relocating to Earth. She knew it was Jane’s home, and understood the often strong allure it held for her species. She’d never felt much of a connection to Thessia herself besides, and certainly not since all the...unpleasantness...with her Mother. It was a dark thought, though nowhere near as much so as the knowledge that both worlds were now gone. Perhaps that was why, in some highly illogical series of thoughts, that’s why they’d been brought here? “That sounds quite lovely.” Liara genuinely was excited. New things always excited her, though nowhere near as much as the moments like these. Especially now, this was where Liara felt like she was most at home. “I may have to ask you for some suggestions and recommendations.” It felt so…normal. It was the thing they’d always been missing and, as Liara was discovering more by the moment, it was the thing that made it impossible not to smile. “And though I am not normally a large proponent but...what is the expression?” She kept their stride as she glanced up at Jane. “I believe I could murder a drink.” “That’s the one,” Shepard replied with a quietly amused smirk. Why didn’t it surprise her that Liara knew what sushi was? Shepard had always admired Liara’s insatiable thirst for knowledge--the way that she wouldn’t let something go until she knew everything about it. Human dating rituals must have made her list at some point. Although Shepard would admit that she didn’t know as much about Asari culture as she would like. Perhaps that was something that they could discuss in the future? “I may have to get you to try everything in that case,” she replied with a teasing lilt to her voice. That was something that they had very little time for in the past--teasing, flirting, just generally having a good time. Shepard did feel guilty, for the home that they’d left behind, for the war that they had abandoned been pulled away from, but for now she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. They were having a good time, a lovely reunion, and she didn’t want to dampen that right now with thoughts of home. “...And I definitely have to introduce you to Sake.”