Liara stopped playing with her newly-acquired engagement ring as Chakwas finally emerged from the medbay. Her heart thudding against her ribs, the asari pushed herself from her seat at the table. Nobody else was around, her last vigil-keeping friend having retired some time ago.

"She's going to be okay, Liara."

The relief was instantaneous. "Goddess," she breathed, reclaiming her seat as her knees threatened to buckle. Looking back up, she gave Chakwas a watery smile. "You are a good friend to give me that before any other details."

Chakwas smiled back. "I've learned a great deal in my time. It was a close thing, Liara. She was unconscious for a long time. I performed surgery, relieving the pressure. It took so long because complications popped up. I can give you the full run-down if you like…?"

Liara shook her head. "It is okay, Doctor. I do not need it right now. All I need to know is that she will be okay."

Nodding, Chakwas put her hand reassuringly on Liara's shoulder. "She will. She'll probably even be awake very soon. But she will be in my medbay for at least a few days. No duty, no strenuous activity beyond walking, and no physical sex. And no Joinings, for that matter. Her poor brain has been through a lot."

Liara's smile deepened, along with the hue of her skin, and then suddenly she was laughing, the relief washing over her putting her in a somewhat giddy, euphoric state.

Chakwas laughed a moment, as well, before saying, "Go ahead. Williams is just cleaning up. I know you don't want to be apart from her. And Liara?"

Liara furrowed her brows slightly. "Yes, Karin?"

The doctor smiled warmly, holding out her hand the way humans did for a greeting. "Congratulations, you old dog. Quick work. Truly, splendidly happy for you."

Liara just blinked a few times, her eyes moving from the doctor's hand to her smiling face. "I'm… sorry?"

"The engagement ring. Do keep up, Doctor."

Liara's face flushed a little. "Yes, of course. I forgot that people would likely notice." She took the doctor's hand.

"Have you told anyone?"

Liara shook her head. "I was going to tell Shepard, but then today happened…"

Chakwas nodded. "Right. And I'm keeping you. You go see your fiancée. I'll go give a report to the commander." Releasing the asari's hand, she began walking away, turning back after only a few steps. "And congratulations again, Liara. Truly, if we aren't fighting for these small milestones in life, then what are we fighting for?"

"They are exactly what we are fighting for," Liara murmured to herself, pushing herself to her feet and making her way to the medbay.

The door swished open for her. Inside, Ashley Williams was washing her hands. It smelled of antiseptic and medigel.

"Hey, Liara," Ashley greeted her, smiling tiredly as she wiped her hands on a towel. Her customary jacket had been stripped off, as well as her shirt, leaving her in fatigues and a ribbed tank, similar to Liara's preferred outfit. She looked… exhausted. Alert, but exhausted: a look only a soldier could really carry.

"Ashley," Liara greeted in return, her eyes taking in the details before sliding away, seeking out her fiancée, as Chakwas had termed Samantha. Her fingers absently toyed with the ring on her finger.

Ashley smirked. "She's over on the bed in the back. She should wake up soon… ah, and she's actually waking up now." Slapping Liara lightly on the rump, startling her completely, the LC added, "Go get 'em, tiger. And congrats on the engagement. That ring's new, right?"

Furrowing her brows in confusion, Liara nodded, already heading for Samantha. "Yes. We… she proposed last night."

Nodding, Ashley gathered up her things. "Well, I'm glad we could get her in the clear. She's a good part of the team." As she left, she added, "Get me or Chakwas if you need something, yeah?"

Liara couldn't respond. She was too busy taking in the sight of her lover lying on the biobed, just beginning to stir. "Samantha!"

She received no reply, merely some grunts and grumbles as the specialist stirred. Liara ran the last few feet, barely noticing the swish of the doors as Williams left. She got to the edge of the bed, her hands hovering uncertainly, not sure where it was okay to touch.

"Liara?" Samantha's dark brown eyes, always so captivating, opened, revealing an adorable confusion within. Liara's hesitation melted, and she wrapped her hands and arms carefully around the specialist, sighing in relief.

"Oh, Samantha, I was so worried for you."

"I… what happened?" Samantha asked as Liara pulled back. She had a small bandage on her head, the hair having obviously been shaven away, no thought to aesthetics given in their rush to perform surgery. She had an IV emerging from the inside of her elbow and had been stripped of her torn uniform shirt, but other than that she lay almost as Liara was used to her.

"You were attacked, Samantha," Liara answered, wiping away the few stray tears that had escaped. "Do you… do you remember anything?"

"I… yes, actually, I do," she murmured, her eyes losing their focus as she spoke. "There was a group of teenagers. Refugees of the war, I figured. They asked me for money. I… I offered to buy them a meal. Didn't want to contribute to anyone's red sand addiction or anything like that, but I wanted to help if they truly needed it. They… they didn't take kindly to my offer, and suddenly I had a knife on me."

"Oh, Samantha…"

"God, they beat me, Liara!" The asari watched tears appear in the human's eyes, though they didn't spill over. "They took my omnitool and then beat me! I never thought I'd see a combat boot coming for my face…" Her tears suddenly melted into confusion. "I… how did you find me?"

Liara's face flushed slightly, though she smiled as she cupped the human's cheek. "All those cameras you didn't want me to follow you with, my dear love."

Samantha chuckled, shaking her head slightly before wincing. "Oh, I hurt all over…"

Liara began fussing, straightening the specialist's blanket as she spoke. "You are remarkable. We will get you some painkillers, and you can sleep, and-"

A hand on her shoulder silenced her, and Liara looked over to see Samantha merely smiling at her. "Firstly, concussion patients shouldn't be sleeping. Secondly, all I really want is to just be here. With you. We were supposed to celebrate our engagement, remember?"

Liara smiled, dropping the blanket and moving to fiddle with the still-unfamiliar ring on her finger. "Yes, of course. We… can't be physical, so what shall we do instead?"

"Tell me… well, perhaps it's jinxing it, but since we've already made one plan for after the war…" Samantha took a deep breath, reaching out her hand, which the asari took. "Tell me what it'll be like?"

Liara's heart beat a little faster. They'd been purposely avoiding talking about the future in too much detail. It seemed too much like tempting fate. But the human was right. They'd already put the ultimate plan out there: they were going to be bonded, have a family of at least the two of them, and now that Samantha was going to be okay, Liara was unafraid of anything else the universe could throw their way. Yes, one or the other of them could still die during this conflict. But it did not happen today.

Willing her heart to calm, Liara relaxed, coming closer to her fiancée and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Well, let's see… there will be children," Liara started, watching Samantha's face light up.

"Little asari daughters!"

"And human children," Liara said, suddenly sure she wanted it. "I want children that are like you, too."

"But, they will die long before you do, Liara," Samantha murmured, her hand leaving the asari's to cup her cheek. "No mother should have to bury her child."

"Be that as it may, I know how much you wish to produce your own children, from your own womb, and I wish it, as well."

Samantha considered Liara for a moment. Then, slowly, a smile began to form, and she merely nodded. "Alright then. A gaggle of human and asari children. What else?"

"I will have to find a suitable alternative to myself as the Broker - I will not endanger my family like that. You like dogs, so I imagine we'll have at least one. And the country. I want to give you a house in a field, like the place you took me to when we first melded."

Samantha excitedly replied, "Ooooh! Real wood! With a white picket fence, and..."

Liara listened happily as Samantha took over from there, describing to the asari what she envisioned as their home, and what their life would be like. It was all… wonderfully dull. Beautifully and perfectly normal. Like nothing they'd experienced before.

As Chakwas had said, this was what they were fighting for. The right to love, and happiness, and utter, boring normalcy.

A/N: The prompt from Raven Sinead - "the gist of the prompt is that the love interests (don't care who, just prefer a same sex pairing, as usual) are isolated, and in a bit of a pinch. One of them is watching the other die, can't really do anything about it, and I want you to do a flashback type story where you show the more meaningful moments of their relationships, the fights, the sex, the happy times, etc."

This may not be exactly what she was thinking, but it's what I came up with. :) I hope you enjoyed this fic. It was a lot of fun, and I've always wanted to do this pairing again. Let me know what you think!