Author's Note: This is a fill for a prompt over on the ME kmeme. You can find the prompt at the end of the story. Many thanks to those who gave me a hand with this, you know who you are. *wink*

Disclaimer: You all know the drill. The Mass Effect universe is owned by Bioware and EA. I borrow their characters in order to wreak havoc.

Eternity

by owelpost

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Hot breath caresses her ear, lips so tantalizingly close. I can give you eternity...

The smell of warm, black leather as it slides beneath her hands, shifting aside to offer a glimpse of blue cleavage, the icy thrill at the idea of fucking death itself… these shouldn't make her wet.

This isn't wrong. Come with me. Be with me.

The memory... it excites her even now as she lowers her gaze, unable to meet Liara's curious blue eyes any longer. She has come to Hagalaz with every intention of confessing.

When Samara asked her to trap her ardat yakshi daughter, the commander had been eager to assist—much too eager. Now she can't forget.

"I... uhm," she stops and turns her face away from Liara. She scrubs the back of her neck with her hand.

Maybe it's her imagination that Liara's voice is a little bit colder when she says, "Shepard, you can tell me whatever is bothering you."

Shepard sucks in a huge breath, and with great effort, turns back. "It's nothing."

Liara doesn't believe her. Her eyes have narrowed, becoming a slightly darker, more intense shade of blue. They are standing very close.

Shepard places her hand on the back of her lover's neck and roughly drags her into a kiss. She tells herself it's the only way to end this conversation before it really starts.

It tastes different than the other's hungry devouring. Liara's lips move out of love, sweet and sure. The other had consumed, burned with the desire to dominate. Liara is a goddess; the other had been a devil.

Shepard feels the need for both building at her core.

Liara's breathing becomes shallower, a sign that she is preparing to join with Shepard's mind. They have agreed that Liara doesn't need to ask permission to initiate a meld. But then, Shepard has never had anything to hide before.

Shepard panics, but it is too late. Liara annihilates the simple mental blocks the human throws up. Somewhere in the distance, she feels Liara's mild aggravation. In her panic, Shepard bites down a little too hard on Liara's lip.

Liara breaks off the kiss, but Shepard hasn't managed to distract her from the meld. She's not really trying that hard. She did come here to tell Liara, after all.

"You've never tried to keep me out before," Liara observes.

Shepard says nothing. She can feel the stubborn throb of Liara's mild hurt through the connection.

"Why am I getting the sense you want me to cause you pain?" Liara is curious now, but she sounds vaguely disturbed. The asari ventures further into Shepard's mind.

Shepard takes a shaky breath just before an inky black anger explodes through the connection. Liara may as well have physically shoved her away, because she staggers when her lover violently ends the meld.

"Who is Morinth?" Liara demands.

She has to have seen at least part of Shepard's memories.

Shepard's hands shake. She clasps them together in an effort to still their motion. Liara's eyes are still the colour of pitch. Shepard stumbles back further as Liara takes a menacing step toward her, hands balled into tight fists. Shepard doesn't need to be connected to her lover's mind to know that Liara is in pain—it is deeply scribed in her exquisite features.

Liara has always had such an expressive face.

"She—" Shepard stops, taking another breath, gathering fabled courage. She squares her shoulders, prepared now to take her punishment. "She was Samara's daughter."

"The justicar currently part of your crew? The Broker had extensive documentation about her." Liara narrows her eyes. "But that would mean…"

"Yes."

One of Liara's hands goes to her chest, applying pressure between her breasts as though she might somehow assuage the heartbreak. Her other hand covers her mouth and Shepard can see she is fighting nausea.

She wants to look away, but Shepard is trapped in the torrent of Liara's anguish. She is not worthy of a reprieve. Judging by the swirling blackness of Liara's eyes, the asari has no intention of giving her one, either.

The commander is so focused on Liara's eyes that she fails to note the asari's movement. She knows that physical contact is not required to initiate a meld, but Liara's hand whips out and snags Shepard's forearm anyway. The asari's fingers clamp down so tightly that she winces.

Her mind nearly rends at Liara's forceful re-entry.

"Show me everything," Liara demands, her voice echoing in Shepard's mind as well as in the emptiness of the shadow broker's ship.

I can give you eternity… come… come with me.

Morinth stands before her, one hand extended in invitation. Shepard takes it without hesitation. She has agreed to trap this beautiful, treacherous creature. The truth is she wants Morinth to ensnare her. Death has never been so appealing.

The ardat yakshi's kiss is unlike anything Shepard has ever experienced before. It is dominant and possessive. It is hard and cruel. It is exhilarating. It makes Shepard feel alive.

Nothing has made Shepard feel alive since awakening on Cerberus' sterile table.

Morinth's hands travel covetously from the commander's hips to her waist. She pushes Shepard backward as she stalks forward. Shepard grunts as she slams forcefully into a wall.

The creature doesn't stop; she is just hitting her stride.

Shepard is desperate for deeper contact. She struggles to unbutton the Cerberus emblazoned uniform jacket. She hates what the jacket represents, and she wants it gone. Morinth senses Shepard's desire and stills the human's fingers before gripping the lapels herself and tearing the thing open for the commander.

Shepard shrugs awkwardly out of the remains of the jacket. The ardat yakshi slides her hands beneath Shepard's compression undershirt, rucking it up to expose the commander's flat, toned belly. Morinth continues to explore inch by delicious inch, eventually palming Shepard's breasts. She forgets to breathe. Currents of need lance through her as one of the ardat yakshi's hands abandons her breast to begin a torturous migration south.

She is compelled to breathe again as Morinth's fingers slither beneath her pants to dip into her. Quick, sharp inhalations follow a low, guttural moan and Shepard has to stop herself from grinding against Morinth. The ardat yakshi lowers her mouth to tantalize the commander's nipple. Shepard hears a whimper, realizes it belongs to her.

Soon, she feels the asari's lips on her neck, just below her ear. She is whispering and kissing and biting. Shepard feels herself being coaxed toward the abyss. She is in danger of leaping over the edge. Regardless, her desire draws her forward.

Morinth says something that Shepard's addled brain barely manages to translate.

"Embrace eternity!"

But before the words are completely formed, Morinth is wreathed in blue. Shepard is deprived of her touch as Samara hauls Morinth away with a Pull. The commander cries out and slides down the wall to slump into a quivering heap on the floor.

Aside from her own ragged breathing, the only sound in the room is a disturbing crack as Samara breaks Morinth's neck.

Shepard comes back to herself, surprised to be caught against the wall and in a state of undress similar to that of her memories. Liara is collapsed against her, breathing heavily, fingers slick with Shepard's need.

"Get out," Liara says when she manages to stand on her own.

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The Prompt:

I'm looking for a different take on the Morinth encounter from ME2—one where Samara's arrival is delayed and Shepard falls under Morinth's thrall and actually starts having sex with the ardat-yakshi. Samara does eventually come and interrupts them in flagrante delicto, but before Morinth can actually fry Shepard's brain (I figure Morinth would wait until the very last possible moment to actually bond with/kill her mates—I mean, there can't be much sexy fun in killing your partner right off the bat, right?). Samara saves Shepard and they return to the Normandy.

What I'm really interested in exploring are Shepard's and her LI's reactions to all of this. How does she tell her LI? What does she tell them?

Does she even tell them? And then, what sort of emotional fallout would the incident have for them and their relationship?