Little by little, Liara's senses came back to her. The throbbing in her head was still there, although fainter, relegated to the back of her mind as more current issues called to her attention.

Specifically, the distance (or lack of it) between her and a certain human.

Sweet Athame's grace. She was hit by a krogan, and instead of worrying about a concussion she was focusing on how Shepard's shirt was sticking to her skin.

"You okay?"

Shepard turns to her suddenly, eyebrow arched in concern. Liara jerks. It was instinct, looking away before she could be caught staring, but up this close it was more damning than anything.

Scratch that. Looking straight into Shepard's eyes, this close to her face, was more damning than anything.

Liara's mouth felt desiccated. "Considering how I was hit in the face, by a ball thrown by a krogan, I'm doing rather well."

That lopsided grin again. Goddess.

"Thought as much. With how insistent you were being about walking to the doc, I reckoned you had a hard head. Must have cushioned the impact."

Despite herself, Liara made an indignant sound.

"I kid, I kid," Shepard says, before Liara can reply.

Jane looks away, to the front, with what appears to be a look of contemplation.

"Is it just me," she continues, turning towards Liara again, "or is it that every time we're on the same team you get decked?"

"Decked?"

"You know," she says, "knocked down."

"Oh. Well, two instances don't mean much, Shepard." Don't mind that both times were due to Liara being distracted by Jane.

Wait.

Is Jane beginning to suspect?

"I guess," the human admits, easing Liara's fears slightly. "Let's see what happens next time."

"I'd rather not, if you don't mind me saying."

Shepard chuckles in reply, and Liara sighs inwardly. She'd risk another blow to the head for the chance to have Jane beside her.

She feels ridiculous with how genuine the sentiment is.

The door to the clinic comes into view and, despite the desire to continue leaning against the human, Liara brings her arm to her side, then stands straighter to prove that she's no longer in need of any help. Shepard protests, but the asari is insistent that she can walk by herself.

"Really Shepard, I feel better."

Jane eyes her suspiciously, but Liara stares back with conviction. In the end, Shepard merely shrugs and jogs ahead to open the door for the asari.

Liara follows suit, but before she can reach her a voice calls out from within the room:

"Jane Shepard. I suppose it was too much for me to hope that you'd manage not to injure yourself for more than a week." Despite what the sentence itself might suggest, the tone is more fond than annoyed, and the notion is reinforced by the soft chuckle that follows.

"Let me hazard a guess: a pulled muscle?"

Liara is smitten by the sheepish grin Shepard gives her, even as she tries to wrap her head around the voice implying the human to be prone to injury. A visit to the clinic every week? Jane moves with skill and purpose, every time Liara has seen her. She is graceful and agile, swift and strong; Liara knows this for a fact, because she's seen Shepard dominate every sport they've been made to play in Gym, and then some.

It's just…really hard to believe.

"Doc, I'm pretty sure I'm not that bad," Shepard says, scratching the back of her head.

"Your medical file is eight times as thick as the average student's, Jane. Take that as you will."

Jane makes a(n utterly endearing) face. "Well, okay, whatever. Anyway, this time, you're not going to have to deal with me."

Jane looks at Liara, and the latter takes it as her cue to enter the room.

The clinic is clean and orderly, and (she assumes) well-equipped to handle the needs of the school's adolescent population. To the side she spies a desk, and behind it a human woman, the streaks of grey in her hair an indicator of her advancing age. She has a kind face and a soothing smile, and Liara's certain that these have made her job easier one way or another. She herself feels more at ease in her presence.

"Good morning, Doctor," Liara says. The doctor smirks at Jane.

"Well, Miss Shepard, color me surprised. You're about to break your record."

"See Doc, I'm not completely hopeless."

Liara finds herself amused by the look of scepticism that forms on the doctor's face. The familiarity between the doctor and Jane in general was amusing, and in some way rather appealing. Due, most likely, to it being a manifestation of Jane's ability to seemingly charm everyone she meets.

(How could she ever hope to—no, no don't think about that.)

Turning to Liara, the doctor asks, "I hope Jane had nothing to do with your mishap Miss…?"

"Liara T'soni, ma'am. And, er, yes, she is entirely free of blame."

Well not exactly, but she can't say that without explaining, can she?

"Jane was merely kind enough to help me here," she continues. "I was hit in the head with a dodgeball thrown by a krogan."

"I see," the doctor says with understanding. Liara realizes she has no idea what her name is. A quick glance to her desk reveals the name Karin Chakwas in a delightfully antiquated wooden nameplate.

"Come here, dear," Doctor Chakwas says, pointing to the seat in front of her desk. "Sit." Turning towards Jane, who Liara sees is still leaning by the entrance, she adds "You too, Jane. No need to guard the door."

Liara seats herself on the chair nearer the wall, and watches as Jane takes the seat opposite hers. Hi, Shepard mouths, waving a hand and greeting Liara as if they did not just come in together. Is it a human thing? Because it's ridiculous, and Liara wishes terribly that she didn't find it so cute.

"You seem to be over the worst of it dear, but one can't be too careful, particularly when a krogan is involved."

"I understand," Liara says, looking pointedly at the doctor and not at all at her fellow student, who was looking passively at the contents of the clinician's desk. "I hope, though, that it doesn't involve my missing the rest of today's classes." How can the side of someone's face be so attractive? For Athame's sake, it wasn't even the full thing.

"It won't come to that, Miss T'soni, I'm certain. Anyhow, I will enumerate a number of symptoms, and all I ask is that you answer truthfully and tell me whether or not any of these have occurred from the moment of the ball impacting you."

"Somestudents," she continues innocently, if one ignored the transfer of her gaze from Liara to Jane, who seemed to be deeply focused on the ceiling, "tend to downplay the degree of their injuries. They mean well, but it gets rather tiring treating a recurring patient for something that could have been avoided if they were more truthful."

"I will doctor," she says, smiling despite herself.

"I don't want to be more trouble than I'm worth," Liara adds at the expense of Jane, whose attention moves from the ceiling to the asari. She is partly pleased, partly flustered by the affronted look she managed to bring about on the girl's face.

Meanwhile, Doctor Chakwas laughs, a sound that heartens Liara even more. "I'm glad to hear that. A number of people would do well to learn from you, Miss T'soni."

Liara smiles demurely at Jane. She enjoys teasing her, but at this point it is all she can do to keep the blush threatening her cheeks at bay. They are friends, she thinks (she hopes they are, at least), but they have never talked for this long. Conversations prior that day were limited to small talk during gym, and greetings whenever they passed by each other in the hallways or in the cafeteria. Other interactions—if they could be counted as such—were mostly just Liara staring at an oblivious Shepard from afar. She wonders if she's taking it a bit too far.

If Jane was at any way discomfited, however, she doesn't show it. She is as good-natured as she always is, the mock-frown she had on moments before morphed back into an easy smile. Goddess, how Liara envies her composure.

Liara keeps her word as the doctor begins reading phrases off a datapad, detailing as accurately as she can which of the symptoms she experienced, and of those their intensity and time of occurrence following her run-in with the ball.

She can see Jane from the corner of her eye as she speaks. She panics for an instant when she finds that the girl has been looking at her for a while, but once it becomes apparent that the human was gazing into empty space Liara knows not whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

She hates how much harder it's been to categorize her feelings as of late.

(Curse you, Shepard.)

Liara ends what is basically a retelling of the morning's events, and as Doctor Chakwas adds to whatever notes she's taken down in her datapad the asari's attention is caught by the clock by the far end of the room. It's around twelve minutes 'til ten, and while her next class isn't until after lunch period she's not sure the same is true for Jane.

The clinic door opens just as she's about to ask. In comes Coach Victus, and the human girl all but jumps to her feet.

"Thank you for your help Shepard," the turian says.

"No problem Sir," Jane replies courteously. She bids him a farewell, and the doctor a more informal version. To the asari, she says:

"See you around, Liara. Hope your pretty little head isn't too messed up."

She flashes her a smile before exiting the clinic, leaving Liara to agonize over her wording.